Focus: What larger patterns are Ellison's images starting to form?
1. Warm-up: A little sketching as we listen to Chapter 21
2. Socratic seminar: Discussing Chapters 18-22 of Invisible Man
3. Last 10 minutes: Wrapping up the discussion and trading bookmarks
HW:
1. Bring your review book to class tomorrow.
2. Finish reading and annotating Invisible Man for Monday's discussion; create your last "Big Question" blog entry of the semester for Invisible Man.
Invisible Man 19-22 Socratic 11\12-
ReplyDelete• On pg. 433 Sambo dolls- “For a second… I felt betrayed” Cllifton’s smile that revealed that he knew something that the narrator didn’t know. Undermined with “grins and yeses.
o Did he betray the white man, or was just a Sambo in their eyes
o Pg.446- Narrator can’t make the Sambo dance. Was Clifton deceiving the common people?
o Pg. 446- “Then I saw a… thread had been invisible.”
Black Thread- manipulating the narrator to manipulate more black people. The black people controlled the back string. The black people are far more easily manipulated so they’re easy to make them do the tasks.
Why was the black string invisible? Blended against the dark skin of Clifton. It would only work for a black man to be selling it. Only the black man could manipulate.
WhiteBlack leadersBlack people
P. 476- “…I had boomeranged around”- Finally opened his eyes. No longer “blind” to what the brotherhood was truly doing. Realized what he had missed. But he’s too afraid to do anything
• Motif of old white men- The ones who cause all the problems.
o Mr. Norton- Gets narrator expelled
o Battle Royal
o Brotherhood leaders.
o Youth v. Old generation and White v. Black
• The Sex Scene
o P.417 “but it was… tried to find my clothes” Know it’s wrong what he did.
o Battle Royal- still feels like its wrong, though the white people are putting on him. puppet
o Realizes his visibility is putting him in jeopardy. – Invisible as he’s leaving? Becoming invisible because the husband didn’t notice that he was even there. Decision to become visible.
o Flowers for Aldgernon- He had his desire beaten out of him. Became ashamed because of it. Dehumanized.
o Puppet of the white woman. P.416 “why goddammit… all human motives”- All human motives is in question. Animalistic. Shows that he doesn’t have the words to standup for himself.
o P.440 “… interest of the design”
o Narrator is being sculpted into what they people want him to be…
• People who leave without saying goodbye
o Brother Tarp- Did the brotherhood force him out
Chain-link + Sambo doll- People on the outside people think he is this powerful leader but mentally he is chained down by the brother hood.
Oppression and broken for the chain, yet the sambo doll for oppression.
Why doesn’t the narrator throw away the thing that oppress him? Sees himself in that way. Yams- Accepts who he is. “I yam what I yam”
Appropriation- to take something and make it yours. Use of N-word- they have taken it and made it his own.
Has not appropriated the sambo or the chain-link. Oppressed by the stereotypes
Wrap- Up!!
• Madison- Frustrated with the narrator’s lack of sight of himself. The same way with us. The word “impossible” impossible v. Impossible.
• Nat- Outburst after the funeral
• Anna- What the narrator thinks he’s accomplishing being apart of the brotherhood
• Kaitlyn- People say one thing,, yet change their actions
• Ian- Why Clifton was so quick to leave the brotherhood
• Nick- conflicts. More than just black v. white
• Kenzie- Subway scene, after he sees Clifton get shot. Personifies history
• Annabelle- Eyeball scene- p.478 “which eye is the blind one”
• Janie- p.431 “shake it up… he’ll do the rest”
• James- Ras had anything to do with Clifton
• Kate- “I’d been asleep,” ch. 21 in a dream like state. Ch. 22 Reoccurring dreams
• Kendall- Narrator’s new found invisibility. Self inflicted or a result of society
• Emily- irony of people always betraying him
• Alex- No longer wants to be associated with the brother hood,
• Mike- perpetuation of our own stereotypes
• Why the narrator was so affected my smabo doll
• Aya- Significance of the chain-link
• Paul- Music
• Whit- “All I had been buried,, yet no great change had been made
• Charlie- Ch. 18 White man’s world, Looks at brother Tarp and sees his grandfather. Why
• P. 446 Black thread with the Greek fates to control the people. Role in the book.
-Katie Franks