The Invisible Man and His Problems with the Brotherhood
The Invisible Man is called in to the Brotherhood’s committee meeting after delivering a speech at Clifton’s funeral. The Brotherhood thought that he had stepped beyond his jurisdiction, acting too much as an individual without consulting them, and chastised him for pursuing what he thought to be his “personal responsibility”, which went against their Marxist way of thinking. They thought that he had been too much of a leader, continuing their confusing back-and-forth criticism of the Invisible Man for being too much of a leader or not enough of one.
The Invisible Man believed that the most productive thing the Brotherhood should be doing would be to organize the people’s anger about Clifton’s death, taking a stance somewhere between that of the Brotherhood and Ras the Exhorter’s. In this way, he takes his own ideas and serves as a median ground between the black militant nationalism of Ras and the overly Marxist views of the Brotherhood which seem to ignore the true feelings of the black community. However, once again the Brotherhood treats him as nothing more than an instrument, and ignores his arguments, thinking that they understand the black sentiment in Harlem because of their relationships with the blacks that they knew – like Brother Tolbitt’s wife. This sentiment enrages the Invisible Man, who comes to realize that they cannot truly understand the position of the black community without going through their struggles for themselves.
I think that this was an important realization on the Invisible Man’s part, and an important development that will serve as a turning point with his relationship with the Brotherhood and how he conducts himself.
Hi Chris, I also think that the lash back that the Invisible Man receives from the The Brotherhood for delivering a speech at Clifton’s funeral serves as a turning point in the novel. Now the Invisible Man can see the Brotherhood’s true colors – they do not care about race relations as much as they care about Marxism. I think that the Invisible Man feels a personal responsibility to stand up for his people and he also cognizes that most members of the Brotherhood, who are White, can never understand the position that Blacks in Harlem is in, simply because they are White. Their relationships with Blacks are not close enough for them to have a common ground.