Mayahuel's Discussion of African American Literature 2019

Recently as we read Invisible Man I came across the moment where Brother Jack's glass eye falls into his glass of water, shocking the narrator. This then prompted me to a variety of thoughts regarding the symbolism and irony of Brother Jacks glass eye. I wondered if the idea that Brother Jack only had 1 eye meant he could not see the world clearly, and that thought seemed to be supported by the narrators joking with Jack. Though Jack clearly misses his joke, the narrator asks him to recommend him to his oculist so "then I may not see myself as others see me not". I found it incredibly ironic, and funny, that Brother Jack, who acts as if he is the all seeing leader of this brotherhood, cant even see that well, literally and figuratively. Furthermore, I thought about how Brother Jacks humble bragging about his "sacrifice"of an eye was similar to the Gandhi phrase "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind". Though somewhat of a stretch, I began...

As we continue to read Invisible Man, I have noticed some stark contrasts between the narrator and Bigger Thomas. Regardless, I have also begun to notice some similarities between situations both characters have been in, as well as factors that have affected them. In Native Son, Bigger has to kill the rat in his apartment, illustrating his shabby living situations. Similarly, when the narrator is living with Mary he sees cockroaches in the house, illustrating a similar sort of poor living space. Moreover, each character's personality is significantly impacted by peoples perceptions of them. In Native Son, Bigger uses the negative stereotype of Black men to try to get away with his murder, while in Invisible Man, the narrator is trying to break these stereotypes to   create a new more positive image of the Black man.  These instances are interesting to me because it seems as if Ellison, in response to Native Son, has included environmental similarities to show how d...