These questions follow, roughly, the order of chapters and sections in the novel. Many of them refer, however, to incidents and characters at several points in the novel. Read through all of the questions as we begin discussing the novel, and then return to the list as we read. Use these for your reading journal. A reading journal is a rich, personalized engagement with a text and its many contexts. The principle: the more you write, the better. There are over 60 questions to respond to for this journal. Each question is worthy of a paragraph (5-10 sentences) or more. 2. What kinds of cultural reference points does the Invisible Man mention? On what sources does Ellison draw? What does he do with these sources? That is, consider not just what Ellison may draw from the works on which he builds, but also why he chooses these sources, what he does not take from them, and, especially, how they are transformed in this novel.3. Why does Ellison begin his novel at the conclusion? What specifically do you learn of the protagonist’s condition at the conclusion? What sense do you make of his pastimes and memories? What has he retained from his “battles”? Why does he fight with the white man at the beginning of the prologue? What do you make of the Monopolated Light Company? What is the significance of the sermon and the questioning of the mother?4. The narrator’s grandfather tells him to “overcome ’em with yeses, undermine ’em with grins, agree ’em to death and destruction, let ’em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open” (16). How does the narrator’s interpretation of this advice change during the course of the novel? Do you feel that Dr. Bledsoe shares the grandfather’s philosophy? What about Tod Clifton? And what about Rinehart?5. Why is the protagonist left nameless throughout the novel?6. What is the significance of the battle royal? What structure or pattern does it set up for the remaining adventures of the novel? Why is the protagonist chosen to “represent his race”? How is the woman treated in the scene? What roles do battle royals or fights play in later episodes in the novel?7. Why are these prominent white men so impressed with the Invisible Man [IM]? Do they really believe in humility and nonviolence, or in the “social responsibility” they expect IM to address in his valedictory speech?8. The town leaders at the battle royal tell the narrator, “We mean to do right by you, but you’ve got to know your place at all times” (31). What kind of help are the men actually offering?9. What “place” in the world do they plan for young black people? Is there any real benevolence included in their wish to dominate?10. What do you make of his dream at the end of Chapter 1? As you read, note his other dreams and the dreams others would impose on him.11. What is the significance of the briefcase treasured by Invisible Man throughout the novel?
College12. What is the significance of the Founder’s posture in his statue on campus?13. Why is Mr. Norton so affected by Jim Trueblood’s story?14. Why have white people lavished help upon Trueblood since his disgrace, when they ignored him before his crime?15. Why do the students and teachers at the college hate and fear Trueblood and the other “black belt” inhabitants?16. Why doesn’t Dr. Bledsoe give the narrator a second chance at the college?17. Ellison carefully lays out the geography of the state college for Negroes, with its whitewashed buildings, its black powerhouse, the barren road leading to the insane asylum, and the nearby shanties of the “black belt.” How does this map symbolize the idealistic vision of the school and the hard realities of black life which the school’s philosophy attempts to deny?18. Mr. Norton is “a bearer of the white man’s burden,” a “symbol of the Great Traditions” (37). How does he personify the paternalistic ethos, for better and for worse?19. Many critics suggest that the veterans at the Golden Day represent the repressed black middle-class–that these are the men who would have been the community’s doctors, lawyers, teachers, and scientists had they been allowed the same opportunities as whites. Do you agree with this thesis?20. The “doctor” at the Golden Day calls the narrator “a walking zombie, the most perfect achievement of [Norton’s] dreams” (94). What does he mean by this? What is the narrator’s reaction? Does he eventually come to share the doctor’s opinion?21. How does Ellison, with both his black and his white characters, employ the metaphor of blindness? How does the metaphor of blindness relate to that of invisibility?
22. In The Souls of Black Folk (1905), W.E.B. DuBois theorized that the black American has two selves. How does Dr. Bledsoe exemplify that principle? How does the principle cause the breakdown of Tod Clifton’s character?23. The Founder and his followers make much of the Christian virtue of humility. In what ways can Invisible Man be seen as an elaborate critique of that virtue?
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