Rebellious Thoughts

The prologue of Invisible Man shows the reader a glimpse of what the narrator will be like by the end of the book. He is almost the complete opposite of the narrator in the first chapter: he lives an “invisible,” or secluded life and knows that he can’t rely on other people. Throughout the book, the narrator slowly evolves from a young and naive character that is very trusting in others, to the narrator from the prologue, that has discovered his own identity.

The first scene where the narrator has a thought that is completely his own is in the fight club in the very first chapter. Throughout the chapter, he goes along with what the white men tell him, very excited to give his speech, and believing that all of the men really care about him and want to hear him talk. Before he gets to the speech, however, the narrator is forced to fight with the other men like animals, and has this thought:

Each time he grabbed me I slipped out of his hands. It became a real struggle. I feared the rug more than I did the drunk, so I held on, surprising myself for a moment by trying to topple him upon the rug. It was such an enormous idea that I found myself actually carrying it out. (28)

This moment, though it is very short, is very significant to the narrator’s development into the narrator in the prologue because his thought goes against what the white men want him to do. As the narrator has this thought, he even surprises himself, so much that he actually goes through with it.

As the chapters go on, the narrator has more and more of these “rebellious” thoughts as he grows into the narrator from the prologue.

Another scene that I saw as an important turning point for the narrator was when he realized that Bledsoe had not been on his side all along after reading the letter he had written for the narrator. The narrator was enraged and even wanted to kill Bledsoe:

When I stopped, gasping for breath, I decided that I would go back and kill Bledsoe. Yes, I thought, I owe it to the race and to myself. I’ll kill him. And the boldness of the idea and the anger behind it made me move with decision. (194)

This example shows the narrator getting mad at the man he used to only admire and look up to, which is a big change for him. I think that this scene is particularly important in the narrator’s development because he says that he not only owes killing Bledsoe to himself, but to his race. This is a development for the narrator because he was not only thinking about himself, but he identified with his whole race, which is a big part of the identity that he struggles with throughout the book.

The Rat Scene

The first time I read the beginning of Native Son, I didn't think very much about the scene in the beginning where Bigger Thomas kills the vicious rat in his home. Now that I have finished the book, it is obvious to me that this scene was foreshadowing for what would happen to Bigger in the rest of the novel.

The rat in the beginning of the book struck out at Bigger because it was afraid, and if you think of Bigger as the rat from the opening scene, the analogy makes sense because Bigger killed Mary Dalton out of fear that he would get caught and accused of rape.

The rat’s belly pulsed with fear. Bigger advanced a step and the rat emitted a long thin song of defiance, its black beady eyes glittering, its tiny forefeet pawing the air restlessly. (6)

This quote shows how obvious Wright wanted to make it that the rat was scared. Even though it was a quick scene that only lasted a few pages, it is very obvious that the rat has more significance in the book than just introducing the environment that Bigger lives in.

The other part of the analogy that stands out to me is that the rat really had no chance to survive. It was up against a human who was a lot stronger and had the power to corner it and kill it. In Bigger’s situation, this was true as well. Once Bigger was wanted for the murder of Mary Dalton, he really had no chance to escape. Just like Bigger cornered the rat in the beginning, the white mobs looking for Bigger literally cornered him on a roof even after searching for weeks.

They were suspicious and would comb every inch of space on top of these houses. On all fours, he scrambled to the next ledge and then turned and looked back; the man was still standing, throwing the spot of yellow about over the snow. Bigger grabbed the icy ledge, hoisted himself flat upon it, and slid over. (264)

This quote is right before Bigger got caught, and shows how the white men literally cornered him just like Bigger with the rat in the beginning. Bigger was literally on all fours trying to crawl away, just like the rat in the beginning.

Overall, I think that this was a really interesting scene for Wright to add to the beginning of the book. Even though it seemed like nothing when I first read it, after finishing the book and looking back, I could see the scene’s importance.

Thanks for reading and comment if you had any other observations or noticed any more parallels in this scene!

test

test