Invisible Man

Introduction-Chapter 1

Reading Check

1. Approximately seven years (1945-1952)

2. Light and lightbulbs (Prologue)

3. Twenty years before the Prologue (Prologue-Chapter 1)

4. A scholarship to an African American college (Chapter 1)

Short Answer

1. He doesn’t have a name, which is significant because it reinforces his invisibility. (Prologue)

2. He regrets his complicity in white oppression, which makes him feel like he is a traitor to his people. (Chapter 1)

3. He struggles to give his speech because his mouth is bloodied and dry from fighting. The White audience members also hassle and taunt him. (Chapter 1)

Chapters 2-6

Reading Check

1. To give him a tour while he visits campus (Chapter 2)

2. Mr. Trueblood (Chapter 2)

3. Dr. Bledsoe (Chapter 4)

4. Sealed letters of recommendation (Chapter 6)

Short Answer

1. He is worried that he will be get in trouble for the raucous nature of the bar. (Chapters 3-4)

2. He discusses how the university’s founder went around the country advocated for African American education. (Chapter 5)

3. He uses his conciliatory and seemingly meek manner to control white people and manipulate their perception of African Americans and the school. (Chapter 6)

Chapters 7-12

Reading Check

1. The veteran from the Golden Day who revived Norton (Chapter 7)

2. Mr. Emerson (Chapter 8)

3. At the Liberty Paints factory (Chapters 9-10)

4. Mary Rambo (Chapter 12)

Short Answer

1. He tells the protagonist to leave powerful white men alone. (Chapter 7)

2. The letters are delivered to the men they are addressed to, but he is not allowed to meet with them. (Chapter 8)

3. They explain that the protagonist has been expelled from the college and not to tell the protagonist, so he stays as far away as possible. (Chapter 9) 

Chapters 13-16

Reading Check

1. Roasted yams (Chapter 13)

2. The crowd helps get the couple back into their home. (Chapter 13)

3. The roof (Chapter 13)

4. Brother Jack (Chapter 13)

Short Answer

1. He tries to shame the police for throwing people into the cold. (Chapter 13)

2. He needs a job to pay Mary for his housing. (Chapter 14)

3. To be a figurehead and orator for the cause of social justice for Black folks in New York (Chapter 14)

Chapters 17-21

Reading Check

1. Brother Hambro (Chapter 17)

2. Head spokesman of the Harlem district of the Brotherhood (Chapter 17)

3. He disappears and then reappears selling demeaning, stereotypical Black dolls on the street. Eventually, he is killed by the police. (Chapters 19-20)

Short Answer

1. Ras the Exhorter’s organization is a Black nationalist organization that is against Black people associating with white people. (Chapter 17)

2. He is sent to work on women’s rights issues in a different area of the city. (Chapter 18)

3. He is worried that he can be blackmailed, and the racial dynamics of the relationship make him nervous. (Chapter 19)

4. It has become less active locally, while the organization seems to be prioritizing a national and international approach that has not involved the protagonist. (Chapter 20)

Chapter 22-Epilogue

Reading Check

1. To hide from Ras’s men (Chapter 23)

2. Sybil (Chapter 24)

Short Answer

1. They do not approve because they think the protagonist should’ve waited for directions from them. They also downplay the violence of Clifton’s death. (Chapter 22)

2. It means that people do not see Black folks fully as individuals or as people. (Chapter 23)

3. He wants to appear to be cooperative with the organization while undermining them secretly. (Chapter 23)

4. The Brotherhood has set him up as the “face” of the riot. (Chapter 25)