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  Irving Howe claims that Invisible Man fails as a protest novel, and a lot of his complaints stem from the narrator’s political disengagement and the lack of a clear resolution to the problems depicted throughout the novel. Initially I adamantly disagreed with this notion, and thought that Invisible Man has no obligation to provide solutions. The book on its own can help to educate and influence it’s readers on the black experience without directly outlining the exact issues. Throughout the novel the narrator feels like he hasn’t found where he truly belongs and struggles with his conflicting Southern and Northern identities. This is a feeling that was shared between a lot of African American people likely at the time, and even now. The book illustrates society against the narrator, with people constantly telling him what he can and cannot do (linking back to themes of Native Son), and all the examples of black power (Bledsoe, Brockway) existing within the rules of white people, ...

 The majority of our recent in-class discussions have been about The Brotherhood. Specifically, all of the contradictions within their methodology and just the off-putting feeling they give us as readers. It’s easy to tell that something is not right with the organization, but their agenda seems to frequently change and it never makes much sense. This is because the Brotherhood is most likely a cult, who uses their public notoriety as an activist organization to lure in emotionally vulnerable people to help them gain arbitrary power.  When cults recruit new members, they focus their attention on the most susceptible people, including those who are extremely stressed, have little to no family connections, and are struggling financially. When brother Jack first sees the narrator he is in a state of emotional turmoil and inciting a riot from a large crowd. In the narrator’s speech he gives conflicting statements, saying they should not be attacking the individual policemen, but...

 In the first 10 chapters of Invisible Man we’re introduced to two prominent African American characters besides the narrator and his grandfather, Bledsoe and Brockway. Both characters’ main motivation as portrayed in the book is power. Bledsoe wants to keep his power as the school’s president by creating a front for the white benefactors to see so they will keep on donating money. Brockway wants to keep his power as the man who runs the show at Liberty Paint by creating the Optic White paint. Both characters hold their power by staying under the radar comparatively to white people of power, and by putting the needs of white above the needs of other black people.  Both characters freely share their thoughts with the narrator in fits of rage. Bledsoe is so angry with the narrator that he might have just ruined the entire façade he has worked so hard to create, that he explains how his main goal in life is to get power by putting other black people down to get the support of whi...

N Native Son speaks to a lot of issues: a rigged judicial system, police misconduct, individualism, biased media, and even housing inequality. However, the book fails to depict black women as anything more than stepping stones for Bigger and the rest of the plot. The only two prominent black women in Native Son are Bessie, and Mrs. Thomas. Mrs. Thomas’s only purpose in the novel is to nag Bigger about chores and work, and progress the plot to get Bigger working at the Dalton’s house. Bessie exists only to be raped and murdered by the “enlightened” Bigger. This gruesome act of murder is barely even mentioned after is happens, only as evidence in the case of Mary’s murder.  One might argue that Richard Wright was aware of the one-dimensionality of his black women characters, and making a point about how they are treated and ignored in society. However, not much in the book points to this. Not even Bigger thinks much of raping and murdering Bessie when he is reflecting on his situati...