This is the final struggle he must face. Instead, it is the dichotomy itself that places meaning on his skin color that he resists. The narrator struggles to fight this construction of race without denying the signifiers that have been linked with his race. To reject part of his identity is again to constrain himself by that dichotomy by denying himself the pleasurable elements that are associated with that identity.
The same is shown earlier, when the narrator chooses to eat a sweet yam. By eating a yam, he does what the representational order has prescribed as the action of a black man. If he refused, he would do so because of that separation. The nature of this choice is the crux of the problem of signified identity in the novel. To do something because others expect it of one is Rinehartism, while to rebel against it because of its place in ideology is to follow the path of Ras.
Both deny agency, because both are defined by ideology. The narrator longs to be able to choose whether to like something in a way that has no racialized significance. After all, anger is the role of Ras, but the narrator has found the ideological trap in that position: it is still a role defined by the same ideological forces.
Instead, he imagines a world in which skin is not racialized: where his subjecthood and his actions are not defined by the color of his body. In the act of writing the story of his life, the Invisible Man attempts to draw some meaning from his experience. His repetition of these illustrates the impossibility of finding an identity based in one or the other.
But by neither accepting nor rejecting a visible identity bestowed by the gaze of white society, the narrator remains invisible. Although the Invisible Man pulls away from both Rinehart and Ras, he admits there are elements of both that he understands and sympathizes with, even envies. He has admired both. So I approach it through division. The narrator chooses to make himself visible by acting as both Rinehart and Ras, which really means neither, since both identities are also defined by the actions that are not allowed to them: Ras cannot defend and Rinehart cannot denounce.
The Invisible Man decides to destroy the false dichotomy of having to choose to be either a Rinehart or a Ras. The deepest subversion of the established order is the notion that a black man might speak to a white person, thus collapsing the gulf between black and white, expressing the multiplicity of himself that cannot be bound by or to one role.
Through the course of the novel, the narrator has shown the reader the depths of his rage as well as the soaring moments of hope towards peace and freedom. The act of storytelling itself, which expresses both his hatred and his love, reflects both the Ras and the Rinehart but also rejects them.
By doing so, he crosses not just the barrier between those two identities but the one between races as well, using the craft of storytelling to speak to an audience regardless of race. Thus, he seems to achieve the goal of radical citizenship, that of crafting for himself a new ideological place.
In this final speech act, he demonstrates a radical political subversion of ideology: the notion that a black man and a white audience might be represented by the same words, thus, finally, subverting the separation imposed on them through a powerful act of empathy and collaborative meaning-making. Bledsoe as Rinehart At first, Dr. Invisibility and the Way Back from Abjection The Invisible Man sees that, even if he were to offer help and hope to the black community, he would need to do so in the context of the racial conflict between the blacks and the whites.
Works Cited Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage Books. Jackson, Lawrence P. Massachusetts Review Jarenski, Shelly. Lee, Julia Sun-Joo. African American Review Ace your assignments with our guide to Invisible Man! Jekyll and Mr. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. What happens to Tod Clifton after he leaves the Brotherhood?
Who is Rinehart? Why does the narrator turn against the Brotherhood? Characters Character List. The narrator The nameless protagonist of the novel. Read an in-depth analysis of The narrator. Brother Jack The white and blindly loyal leader of the Brotherhood, a political organization that professes to defend the rights of the socially oppressed.
Read an in-depth analysis of Brother Jack. Read an in-depth analysis of Tod Clifton. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Literature Poetry Lit Terms Shakescleare. Download this LitChart! Teachers and parents! Struggling with distance learning? Our Teacher Edition on Invisible Man can help. Themes All Themes. Symbols All Symbols. Theme Wheel. Everything you need for every book you read. The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive.
When the narrator puts on dark-lensed glasses, he immediately is mistaken for a man named Rinehart. Not so much a character as an idea, Rinehart represents the fluidity, hopefulness, and charlatanism of the black community. Rinehart is a gambler, a numbers man, a pimp, and a preacher, and shifts between all of his roles with ease. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Subscriber sign in You could not be signed in, please check and try again.
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