During class yesterday, we kept bouncing ideas back and forth about the origins/causes of the narrator's invisibility. Basically there are two possible arguments as to the origins/ causes of his invisibility: his race or a more general occurrence. Either of these origins/causes could lead to the state of invisibility that the narrator experiences. I think the origin/cause of the narrator's invisibility is a more general phenomenon that could happen to anyone.
Many would argue that the narrator's invisibility is caused by his race, but I think that his race only contributes to his sense of invisibility. I guess to begin I need to define how I see the narrator's invisibility; for me the narrator's invisibility is something that originates from within. The narrator is invisible because he has a certain attitude toward the world and his life and he acts accordingly. The narrator has never been able to define himself in terms of himself; he is constantly looking out towards the world to discover who he is. He needs to look inwards to discover who he is. It is this lack of self-knowledge that makes him invisible.
His race contributes to how the narrator is confused about his identity. The narrator is told how to act as a black man, but it does not fit him and he becomes more lost and invisible. When Bledsoe says "You're black and living in the South-- did you forget how to lie?", it shows how the narrator does not internalize the image of the black man from the South and therefore becomes invisible. The narrator does not know who he is and he is invisible.
The second point of the novel that is a great example of the narrator's invisibility is when he gives his first speech for the Brotherhood. The narrator is extremely visible as he stands on the stage in the spotlight with an audience hanging on his every word. How could the narrator be invisible at this point? The narrator is invisible because the audience and everyone around him really do not know who he is. He is invisible because he is not sure of his identity and even the small part that he is sure of, he never shares; and this renders him invisible. In this sense he can control his invisibility by letting his identity be known. It is also interesting how the Brotherhood has manufactured the narrator a brand new identity and in doing so they have made him more invisible.
The narrator's invisibility shows that anyone can be invisible.
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"It is also interesting how the Brotherhood has manufactured the narrator a brand new identity and in doing so they have made him more invisible." I think that statement is very true. It seems to be that even though the narrator has changed his location from the South to the North he is still unable to think for himself and express his own beliefs. Since he is confined to doing what occurs wants him to do throughout his entire existence in the book, he is invisible.
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