Invisible Man Epilogue Analysis PDF

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P572 The narrator commented that his invisibility placed him in a hole, “or showed me the hole I was in”. He realized that he has been invisible all along, always in this hole without light and was hence always unseen. Being in a hole also indicates that he sits lower than the rest of society. P573 The narrator recognizes that he was hated for telling the truth and loved for affirming the stereotypes of society. He noted that often when he attempts to justify the others’ beliefs, he is choking himself until his tongue “hung out and wagged like the door of an empty house in a high wind”. P573 THe narrator felt that he had been trying to follow everyone’s way but his own, and he had been called one thing and then another while no one really wished to hear what I called myself. When he finally rebelled, he said that “I am an invisible man”. Perhaps he is invisible because he no longer fits into the stereotypes imposed upon him by society, thus there was no real “name” he can be addressed by. Since he does not fit into any molds, he may as well be invisible as others cannot understand his presence. P575 The narrator commented that the sickness that led him to become invisible was similar to a disease that turned black men albino. This can be reflective of how in an attempt to please the white men he had inadvertently whitewashed himself throughout the years and had hence lost track of his identity. P576 The narrator notes that he started out with optimism like any other in this country, only to turn against it. He also explains that his world had became a world of infinite possibilities. P576 The narrator explains that all men are different and only in division is there true health. He explains that it is another reason that led him to stay in the hole as he does not want to go back to the world where “there’s an increasing passion to make men conform to a pattern”. P576 The narrator explains that in his nightmares Jack and the boys are waiting with their knives, looking for the slightest excuse to “ball the Jack”. He clarifies that he is not talking about a dance move, “although what they are doing is making the old eagle rock dangerously”. The fact that Jack is making America dance presents connections to previous passages in which the narrator/black men were forced to dance. Perhaps he is implying that Jack is humiliating the country and forcing it to act like a clown?

P577 The narrator explains that the world of conformity will end up forcing him to become white, which is “not a color but the lack of one”. Upon seeing Mr. Norton in the subway, lost, the narrator thought that losing a sense of where you are implies the danger of losing a sense of who you are. He later concludes that “to lose your direction is to lose your face.” P578 The narrator says to Mr. Norton that no matter which train he takes it will lead him to the golden day. P579 The narrator wonders why he is torturing himself to write things down. He then answers himself and says that “without the possibility of action, all knowledge comes to one labeled ‘file and forget’”. This is reflective of how if he does not act upon his experiences, no changes will be made and history will be forgotten and repeated ....