Patterns in Invisible Man

I began reading Invisible Man this past week, and I found that there are a lot of really interesting patterns. It kind of reminds me of Winesburg, Ohio in the way the author connects many different ideas throughout the novel.

One interesting pattern I noticed was the idea of dreams or nightmares. The first time the narrator discusses this is on page 4, when he talks about beating up a man who verbally attacked him. He says, “The man had not seen me, actually; that he, as far as he knew, was in the midst of a walking nightmare!” Later, on page 7, he discusses a nightmare that a beautiful girl kept having where “she lay in the center of a large dark room and felt her face expand until it filled the whole room, becoming a formless mass while her eyes ran in bilious jelly up the chimney.” Again, on page 9, the narrator descends into a dream or nightmare while listening to Louis Armstrong’s music, although this dream is drug-induced which might set it apart from the other dreams. Finally, on page 33, he dreams that he is with his grandfather and he receives a letter that reads, “Keep this nigga-boy running.”

Another pattern I noticed was the animal imagery throughout the novel. Often times, the narrator uses animals to describe human beings. He probably does this in order to highlight the worst, most primal qualities of mankind. On page 19 he describes the naked dancer as a “fair bird-girl,” and on the next page, he describes on of the white men as “an intoxicated panda.” He also compares the room full of white men to “a dark room filled with poisonous cottonmouths,” and the boxing ring full of blindfolded black men to “blind, cautious crabs” and “hypersensitive snails.” On page 26 his blood pools in the shape of a butterfly, an interesting comparison considering butterflies are usually gentle creatures and blood is a symbol of violence. Finally, one of the electrocuted boys is describes as “a circus seal,” on page 27.

Other than animals and dreams, the narrator consistently references eyes, especially as a window to the inner soul. The first page references the “inner eyes” which are “those eyes with which they look through their physical eyes upon reality.” Later, when describing the naked dancer again, he said that, while her face was fixed in a smile, “I saw the terror and disgust in her eyes.” Thus, her eyes give away her true emotions and feelings. Later again, when describing one of the fighters, he says, “his face was a black blank of a face, only his eyes her alive.” These two examples demonstrates mankind’s attempt to conceal their true feelings but their ultimate failure because their eyes give away so much. On page 28, he says the fighter was “looking at me with soberness dead in the eye,” again demonstrating the highly intimate nature of eyes. Finally, on page 33, he says his grandfather’s “eyes seemed to follow everywhere I went.”

Other patterns I noticed where darkness, juxtaposed opposites or oxymorons, boomerangs, dancing, and obviously invisibility.