Invisible+Man


 * Discussion Time:**
 * Thursday****, January 19,** **12:55-2:25 (5W)**

Mike Smith Amy Wasielewski Laura Pietropaoli Emma Davidson Joss Richards-Daniels Richard van Antwerp
 * Group Members:**

Pre-Discussion Information

 * Characters


 * Invisible Man **
 * - A very smart, black man who got a scholarship to a university **
 * - Ralph Ellison’s protagonist, goes through **
 * - Plays a submissive role throughout the book **
 * Brother Jack **
 * - A white leader of the Brotherhood **
 * - He was the man to originally invite the protagonist to join **
 * - Has a false eye, symbolizing his “sacrifice” in a war **
 * Brother Clifton **
 * - originally a well known and successful Brother **
 * - sells dolls **
 * - Later considered a traitor among Brotherhood members. **
 * Bledsoe **
 * - Head of the school the protagonist attends at the beginning. **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Tricks and expels the protagonist from the college after the incident with Norton **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- sends protagonist with recommendation letters to many rich people in New York City, led protagonist on false sense of hope because the letters did not help him. **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Norton **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Wealthy, white man who helped fund the college the protagonist attends. **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Speaks to Trueblood when the invisible man drives him to the cabins set on the university land **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Faints and is taken to Golden Day where there is a fight and he is injured. (This event as well as meeting Trueblood is the reason Invisible Man is expelled) **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mary **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Described as a kind, black woman. **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-Offers a rented room to the invisible man for free. **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Urges him to find a job and helps guide him **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Setting(s) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Describe details including time and place, economic, cultural, geographic, seasonal elements. What are all of the details of the backdrop against which the novel is set that help to create its tone and ideas?


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Place **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Begins in the South, specifically at his college, and then the story moves to Harlem in New York. **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Time **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- It is after World War I. **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- It is the time when the Jim Crow laws in the South are in full swing. **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Important plot events


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Protagonist Getting Kicked out of College: **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Getting kicked out by Dr. Bledsoe was the first instance in the novel where the protagonist gets manipulated by higher white men as though he and his feelings were “invisible.” He gets kicked out for following orders from another white man, Norton. In the argument between Bledsoe and the protagonist, Bledsoe looses control and shouts many racist remarks. The journey that he goes on really begins when he realizes that the authority he always trusted at the college is actually flawed. **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Clifton Gets Shot: **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When Clifton gets shot by the police, the narrator is struck very deeply by the racism in the city. He decides to speak to a large crowd to express his disapproval. It all gets very complicated from here because he realizes how exclusive the brotherhood has been throughout his time there. He realizes that they were not working towards the cause he thought they were, and he had just been brainwashed into believing what they wanted for him to believe. **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Narrator Running Away to Become Invisible: **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">After the narrator’s near-death experience, he was sure that he could not stay in society with such hostility toward him. As a result, he finds ways to go underground and not to be noticed. This leads to him, in the end, finding out that he really does want to make a difference. At the end of the book, he thinks it may be time for him to express himself in the world again. **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Conflicts


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Racism **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- The book is driven by racism from the title Invisible Man referring to the invisibility of blacks all the way to the end when the protagonist is being chased down into the hole. **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Self-Identity **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- All the conflicts the narrator has within himself are based on whether or not he should succumb to the rules of society that he already knows. When he tries to break free by joining the brotherhood, he actually falls into a new way of thinking and gets trapped again. He runs away to try to come up with his own ideas about life without being influenced by others. **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Narration (point of view) - Describe how the telling impacts the story.


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- The book is written like an autobiography, yet it begins in the middle of an event in the invisible man’s life. **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Because it is in first person, the character’s feelings/emotions are clear. **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- It felt as though the action was happening to the reader because the narrator was so emotionally involved in it himself. **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Qualities of the journey - Each group member should make a statement about the journey (metaphorical, literal, etc.) and how the character changes (or not...).


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- The narrator’s journey was based completely on finding his own identity. He moves from place to place hoping to be able to express himself freely, but when his plans go awry, he is forced to rely only on himself. **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Discussion Questions:
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What are the issues and ideas within this novel you’d like your group to discuss? Be sure to consider various parts of the text (beginning, middle and end). Collaboratively create 15-25 open-ended questions that promote discussion and organize them logically.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Personal Response Questions__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -- These questions might address your personal reactions to the style and content of the novel and ask group members to share and compare.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Open-ended, analytical questions__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -- These promote multiple perspectives and don’t yield a single answer. They address the WHY and HOW.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Significant passage questions__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -- Observe, as you would in close reading, the qualities of the text and how the passage brings meaning to the novel overall.


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1. Will the “invisible man” ever come out of the hole he is in at the beginning and end of the book? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Discuss instances of blindness and invisibility. When are these instances good? Bad? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3. Did you feel more emotionally involved in the book because it was a first person account? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4. What event in the novel was the most thought-provoking? (For example, Clifton’s death, etc.) **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5. How does the narrator express himself throughout his journey? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">6. How are Bledsoe, Norton, and Brother Jack similar? How are they different? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">7. What symbolism is there in the book? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">8. Discuss how the protagonists optimism in his future changes throughout the book? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">9. Did you feel like the narrator's changed over the course of the book? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">10. Discuss the constant mentioning of the pessimistic grandfather? What did he believe? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">11. Talk about the complex symbolism of the Liberty Paint plant where the narrator worked. **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">12. Why does the narrator remain nameless throughout the book? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">13. What is the general tone of the novel? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">14. Who is Rinehart? What does he represent? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">15. Discuss racial stereotypes in the novel. For example, the sambo dolls and the bank in Mary’s house. **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Protocols:

 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1. Whips **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-How did you like the book? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-What theme(s) stood out to you the most? Things like racism, stereotypes, ideology. **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- What about motifs such as blindnes and invisibility?Where do they stand out most to you? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Is there anything that still seems unclear to you after having read the book? **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Interpretive: **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Why does the narrator want to join the brotherhood? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- What do you think of the complicated metaphor surrounding Liberty Paints? **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3. How did you respond to the protagonist? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- How did you respond to Brother Jack? **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- How did you respond to Bledsoe? **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4. Summarize the book in 10 words or less **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Connections:
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Learn about your book and widen your discussion by researching outside resources. Each must include a specific part of the text the group should focus on, a statement about why the outside source is relevant, plus at least one comment or question for discussion. The outside resources can include:
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">literary criticism
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">book reviews
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">other works of literature
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">literary theory
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">author information -- interviews, obituaries, statements
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">trailers/spin-offs/popular culture references


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">• <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/06/20/specials/ellison-invisible2.html__] **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This a critique of the novel- do you agree with the opinions given? **

http://aalbc.com/authors/ellison.htm A short biography about Ralph Waldo Ellison
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">• <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_nZnPor4dg&feature=related__] **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This is a video of the impact of Invisible Man on blacks in society. **