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!!!

Scribe Post 10/20

In the beginning of class, we had a grammar lesson on parallelism (similar ideas or phrases joined together in the same sentence in a grammatically correct way). This is a good website to practice and learn parallelism: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/623/01/

During the Invisible Man discussion, we were asked to think about the key symbols we thought were the most significant and powerful in the book so far.

It was decided that Eyes signify a number of things:

1. The inner and true self. On page 102, the narrator says, "As we approached a mirror Dr. Bledsoe stopped and composed his angry face like a sculptor, making it a bland mask, leaving only the sparkle of his eyes to betray the emotion that I had seen only a moment before." In this quote, the narrator says that the only evidence of Bledsoe's real emotions is in his eyes.

2. How he is viewed within society and the larger world. Jordan took us to page 336 when the narrator says, "Perhaps simply to be known, to be looked upon by so many people, to be the focal point of so many concentrating eyes, perhaps this was enough to make one different; enough to transform one into something else." He describes how the way the world sees you can change the person you are.

3. Someone's point of view. Karan noted that on page 343 the narrator says in his speech, "Think about it, they've dispossessed us each of one eye from the day we're born. So now we can only see in straight white lines." The message is that they have developed a parochial view of equality. It goes back to how the Institute taught in one way. What's interesting is the use of "white" as an adjective before "lines," which could mean that whites are responsible for their blindness.

Colors of animals was another key symbol. David pointed out that a quote on page 337, "three white men and three black horses," signifies that whites come before blacks and thats how its always going to be.

Also, the juxtaposition of the colors black and white throughout the novel is a symbol of hierarchy of society. Mr. Neal pointed out that Ellison uses these colors at Tod Cliftons funeral because Harelem is rising up and shutting out the brotherhood who abandoned them. They're taking control from whites and gaining power but it's hard to keep it.

We also discussed the distortion in the color white (ex. the coal painted white).

Guilded - wood w/ thin layer of gold; "the perfect image that if you just scratch it shows the corruption underneath." - Mr. Neal

**Remember to continue the conversation on racial stereotypes in the next class.

The next scribe is Courtenay!

Scribe Post 10/12/10 & 10/14/10

These past two classes we have discussed a few topics, first the Invisible Man chapters 11-15, then three readings from the Norton Reader, and lastly writing techniques to use within descriptive writing. Our first class discussions began with the Invisible Man, so we will start with that.

Starting off class, we discussed any concerns or comments that we had about the chapters -- questions, confusion, etc. A lot of the preliminary confusion surrounded how the man actual arrived in the hospital in chapter 11, which was first voiced by Sarah Jane. It was then clarified by Mr. Neal that it was a result of the explosion that occurred in the previous chapter, but we then went into further discussion surrounding the symbolism within that scene. Toast brought up some good points, namely that perhaps his "third eye" represented knowledge, or power in a spiritual sense, and that the repetition of grey was relating to the fact that the man was starting to see the world in different ways, rather than a convoluted black and white vision.

Next, Bruna brought up the idea of the "white man's burden" being portrayed through the Brotherhood. She noted that despite the fact the man was nowhere close to being an articulate speechmaker, it was interesting how they asked him to help them campaign. This then brought the class to the conclusion that they, in fact, just wanted to have a minority to help support their cause through the manipulation of marginalized minorities.

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Two days later, we are brought to the 14th and we start of class with a quiz on our personal vocabulary words. Right after this, we dive into the three Norton Reader essays; "He Said no to Internment," "Saved by Strangers," and "Chasing Evil."

We started our discussion with Mr. Neal asking which story did we enjoy the most and the response was varied. Karan and David expressed their like of "He Said no to Internment," because of the historical interest, after which Noah talked about why he liked "Chasing Evil," because it gave greater depth into a story he already knew about -- then Jordan described how much she enjoyed "Saved by Strangers," because of both the writing style and the humanity that was found within it. Overall, throughout the class there was what seemed to be an almost equal dispersion of who liked what.

After this, we broke up into small groups to discuss the writing styles and techniques within each of the essays. After regrouping as a class, we shared what we had come up with. Style choices that came up were: factual information that wasn't particularly descriptive, but informative, colorful language, and constructing sentences so that they weren't flowery, but still provided good descriptions.

Afterwards we worked on our own writing journals, which Toast shared with the class. It was a lovely story about the French countryside that compelled some people to tears, after which class ended.

The next scribe is . . . Sara Radin!

Scribe Post 10/12/10

Today in class, we discussed the revision of our personal narratives. We were given 15 minutes to work on it in class. We talked about how revision is the action of putting in sentences and taking them out. Revision is also the insertion of descriptive and figurative language. One idea that we didn't say was that editing is NOT revision. Revision is specifically the addition (or subtraction)of language that adds to the essay or piece as a whole. After these revisions we discussed what questions we had on chapters 11-15. A few topics we talked about:
-When the narrator is being operated on, he is getting a lobotomy without his head getting cut open. He is in some sort of machine.
-The narrator believes that the doctors are out to get him and he establishes that the purpose of the operation is to "cure" him of questioning society and how it works.
-The woman at the end of chapter 11 with the red delicious apple is a symbol of Eve, and the meaning behind this symbol is that Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the Forbidden Tree of Knowledge, and the narrator has been reprogrammed to not question things like Adam and Eve did.
-When the narrator finally speaks up in chapter 13, his speech is terribly formed; he doesn't know the name of the leader he tries to mention, and he stutters multiple times. But, in spite of all this, he still manages to speak out and revert back to his earlier state.
-One important thing we took from this speech is that the narrator is not making a speech for the brotherhood because of his good speaking technique, but actually because he is a bad speaker. His lack of speech making skills show in his speech, and the brotherhood is aware of this and have him speak to make him a bad example of his race.

The next scribe is....








THE TAUSMEISTAAA
(Taus)

Prologue Rap

Living in Harlem all on his own
Under a hotel, in a room where light shone
The light’s actually stolen but no one will know
He is invisible and he’s got nowhere to go

He has no name, and it seems like no goal
He lives without identity, but it seems his life’s whole
And even when he sits, alone every night
He is invisible, and he knows it’s all right.

Invisible Man Rap

Invisible Man Rap

You know you can’t see me

this is what describes my invisibility

but I see

how hard I work to fit in my family tree

fit in to what my grand pappy reached

now I understand the meaning of his speech

he spoke

more distant than under Harry Potter’s cloak

and now I’ve got to climb that long golden rope

to get to the place that I decided I would go

not harlem, not brooklyn

I’m not tryin’ to be crookin’

I just figured out what bledsoe was cookin’

and now it’s burnt

tried to pass it off as me getting work

professor filled with hate and he don’t know about my hurt

I’m talking about the fight

I got my eyes knocked but it’s them who cant see me in the light

I fight

I wage

and it’s you who turns the page

now I’m in my hole in a spectacle of light

and it’s my right

Invisible rap

In the south dude got a scholarship
it was thru the fight won the knowlegship
years went past he was doin good
till norton showed up and brought him to the hood

it was bledsoe threw him out,
up north he moved, it was mad sad

in the city of dreams he found no way
ran into blu who took him back to the golden day
came away with a messed up view,
got even worse wen emerson spew-d
bledsoe didnt want him anymore so he got in his head settle that score
wanted to kill that D-bag soe
btw narrators name was Joe
not really.