10/18 Symbols in the Invisible Man

In class we discussed some of the recurring symbols in Invisible Man and what they may mean. We started with the Grandfather. We discussed how the Grandfather is one of the first symbols in the book and is returned to after almost all bad situations in the book. The grandfather seems to represent the black man being forever beneath the white man unless he fights to over come it. Another very important symbol is colors specifically black and white. These are symbols that are apparent throughout the book, but shown most powerfully in the Liberty Paints factory. In the factory the Invisible Man has to add 10 drops of a black substance to each bucket of white paint. Eventually the Invisible Man notices the paint has a sort of gray tint to it. This draws attention to the name of the paint, "Optic White." The color white itself is a very multi-layered symbol within the book, and includes White America, America itself and purity in some cases. The third important symbol we discussed was veils. Veils are mentioned few times in the book, but the idea of the Founder lifting the veil can be seen several times, for example with the letters. Veils involve a form of willful ignorance among the characters. The next scribe shall be BARROW!!!