Invisible Man Chapter 5 - 9
The protagonist leaves Norton’s room and makes his way to the chapel and recalls the numerous ceremonies he has attended there including debates that had required him to take to the stage. Inside the chapel, he immediately picks out the director and watches with wonder as he humbly converses and touches the white millionaires from the college board. He recalls that the director had come to the college empty-headed with a burning determination to learn, and had been recognized by the Founder himself. The protagonist had believed the white millionaires to be wonderful leaders who had taken out their time to educate the black youth while he viewed those black speakers that talked of equality as little more than animals. The service includes a moving speech by Reverend Barbee, who had known the founder much like Dr. Bledsoe. He compares the founder to biblical figures like Moses as he claims that the founder had acted with such devotion towards the people of his race. He describes the founder's rise from slavery, and his attempted assassination as he had been touring the country to talk to the emancipated slaves.
The founder did not remain long in the world, and the reverend recalls how the founder had once collapsed during his address as one of the listeners had asked him about what could be done to improve the lives of black people. The founder had passed on the mantle of his leadership to Dr. Bledsoe with his last words. The reverend praises Dr. Bledsoe for his continued belief in the founder’s vision, and as he ends his speech, the reverend stumbles and the protagonist realizes that the man is blind. The speech of the reverend moves him to tears and he rushes out of the chapel believing that a man who had been trusted by the founder would never act with mercy towards someone like the protagonist since he had endangered Norton, an important trustee.
The protagonist cannot muster the courage to see the Director as he is certain that he will be held to a high moral ground given the image that the reverend had created of him during his sermon. He goes all the way to the gates of the college but finally returns to face the music in the director’s office. Bledsoe turns out to be a shocking contradiction of all that the reverend had said, as he questions the protagonist about his trip with the trustee. He admonishes him for being honest and obedient as he educates the protagonist that the only way to please a white man was to lie to him. He gives him several excuses that he could have used to mislead the trustee and then asks him about the veteran doctor from the Golden Day. Bledsoe believes that such a free-thinking black man should not be allowed to walk free but should be forced to remain incarcerated.
Bledsoe informs him that he will be expelled, which seems to be a direct contradiction of what Norton had told him would happen. The protagonist is surprised that Bledsoe would betray the trustee’s word so easily, and protests that he would fight the decision by seeking Norton’s aid. Bledsoe scoffs that the protagonist has no power as he explains that he held the ultimate authority over the college and that he would hang all the black people in the country before he would relent even a shred of his power. He claims that the narrator has the spirit of a fighter, and so advises him to move to New York with letters of introduction from the director that would help him secure a job, which he could use to collect the money for his tuition and then return to the college. He dismisses the protagonist, who is disoriented from his expulsion, but the protagonist returns the following day and asks to leave for New York immediately rather than later. Dr. Bledsoe writes the introduction letters for him and commands him to keep them sealed until he has to present them.
The protagonist is greatly discomforted by the presence of the veteran doctor from the asylum on the bus he takes to New York. The mental patient explains that he is being transferred to DC, something he had long wished for, and yet it had only occurred after he had spoken to Mr. Norton at the Golden Day. The patient is being accompanied by an attendant called Crenshaw, who believes that the veteran doctor speaks too much. The protagonist reluctantly tells the doctor that he is going to New York, and the veteran doctor tells him that New York could be good for him. He advises the protagonist to see through the fog, and to play the game, but to never believe in it. He also tells the protagonist to be his own father before parting.
The protagonist imagines a smooth ride back to the campus after his short stint in the city, yet he is bothered by having to hide the news of his expulsion from his parents. He gets off the bus and makes his way to Harlem on a crowded train, but he soon gets off the train as the crowded bus forces him too close to a white woman. The protagonist is surprised by the lack of segregation in New York and stumbles upon a civil rights protest, led by a fiery orator. The protagonist is shocked by the orator’s speech and wonders how he is allowed to speak so freely. He asks a couple of policemen for directions to the Men’s house. They realize that he is new to the city as they direct him towards the building and advise him to be careful.
The small room at the Men’s house has a little bible, that reminds the protagonist of his father as well as Dr. Bledsoe. He tries to read it but finds himself unable, and so puts it away with the resolve to find a job and earn money for his tuition. He travels on the subway the next day and makes his way to Wall Street. He had been tempted to open and read the letters of introduction that Bledsoe had written for him but decided to have faith in the man. Over the next few days, the protagonist presents his letters to the secretaries of several trustees but never manages to secure a single interview. At this time, he begins to run out of money so much so that he no longer has enough money for the train fare to return home. He wishes that Bledsoe had written a letter to Mr. Norton as well, and boldly decides to write to the trustee himself. Alas, his letter to Mr. Norton remains unanswered yet he does receive a reply from Mr. Emerson, whom the protagonist had written to himself rather than using the last letter that Bledsoe had written for him.
On his way to meet Mr. Emerson, the protagonist encounters a black man with a cart of blue papers singing blues songs that he remembers from his childhood. The cartman, who is also from the south, attempts to banter with the protagonist and begins by asking him “Is you got the dog?” The protagonist is unable to understand the cartman and is annoyed by his presence. However, his anger soon dissipates as he enjoys listening to the man despite not being able to reply in the same fashion. The man explains that he is carrying blueprints of plans in his cart since people are always making plans only to later change them. The man departs after introducing himself as Peter Wheatstraw, and the protagonist is left with a sense of admiration for his own culture. The protagonist meets Mr. Emerson’s son, who leaves him in the office as he goes out to read the letter from Bledsoe that the protagonist presents.
The narrator is struck by the exotic items in the office and thinks of the museum at the college that displays the relics of slavery. Young Emerson returns to the room, and talks about his ongoing psychotherapy, as he attempts to discover the protagonist’s ambitions. He tries to divert the protagonist from returning to college, but the protagonist refuses to heed his advice. He is angered by Young Emerson’s words and claims that he is being purposefully kept from seeing Mr. Emerson. Young Emerson then reluctantly decides to show the contents of Bledsoe’s letter to him, and he is horrified to learn that the letter asks the trustee to mislead him and dismiss him. The letters explain that the protagonist has been permanently expelled from the college, but he has been misled into believing that he could one day return. The protagonist’s worldview is completely shattered and he returns to his room a broken man. He resolves to take revenge on Bledsoe and secures a job in Liberty Paints that young Emerson had suggested before the protagonist had left the office.
Analysis
The interaction between Norton and Jim Trueblood highlights the discrimination that the affluent black people exercised over their less privileged counterparts in the south. The narrator and Dr. Bledsoe are embarrassed about Jim Trueblood and attempt to prevent them from interacting, hoping to make Jim Trueblood invisible to the white man. Norton's fascination with Jim Trueblood's incestuous relationship with his daughter is a means for him to live vicariously through the sharecropper. He rewards Jim with a hundred-dollar bill because Jim's account has allowed Norton to experience a fantasy that he had harbored for himself, as is evident through the description of his daughter's beauty.
Dr. Bledsoe, Reverend Barbee, and Norton are the inheritors of the ideas of the founder, whose ideology is depicted as being infertile through the founder's actual biological sterility. Dr. Bledsoe is a man of many masks who embodies the idea that the narrator's grandfather had expressed on his deathbed, that of presenting a subservient outer shell to hide rebellious desires. The director has made use of this duplicity to climb the white power structure and continues to use it for personal gain rather than for the welfare of his race. Dr. Bledsoe understands that the narrator presents a threat to his mask of subservience and so uses this duplicity to send him to New York. The narrator displays his naivete as he chooses to believe the director's words despite just having learned about his duplicitous nature. He continues to place faith in the director even as he faces one rejection after another due to the letters of introduction.
