Invisible Man Characters Analysis
The Protagonist - He is a black man from a small town in the segregated south, but is caused to leave for the north when he is expelled from the state college for black people. He tries to carve a life for himself in New York but his attempts at success are thwarted by the white power structure that pervades not only a factory of paint but also a political organization that claims to be working towards achieving equality.
Dr. Bledsoe - An old large black man who had arrived at the college armed with nothing but a zeal for learning. He had risen to the pinnacle of the college when he had been entrusted with its leadership by the mythically great Founder. The protagonist discovers the man beneath the mask of benevolence and finds a greedy man who is unafraid of breaching moral boundaries to retain his powerful position.
Mr. Norton - An aristocratic old white trustee of the college, who claims that all the students that study at the college are his true legacy. He is nearly reduced to apoplexy when he can vicariously experience his twisted incestuous desires through the account of the hapless Jim Trueblood.
Brother Jack - A rich white man with a single glass eye who is an important member of the Brotherhood. Brother Jack is responsible for recruiting the Protagonist as a speaker for the organization, but he later writes an anonymous letter of threat when the Protagonist begins to experience success as a spokesperson.
Ras the Exhorter - A vocal radical black nationalist who claims that black people are a superior race and opposes the participation of black people in the Brotherhood. Ras later renames himself Ras the Destroyer and leads a gang of violent men through the streets of Harlem during the height of the riots.
Tod Clifton - A young and handsome black member of the Brotherhood's Harlem chapter who works closely with the protagonist during the first phase of his campaign in Harlem. He later quits the organization to hawk Sambo dolls in the street and the Protagonists witnesses his death as he is shot down in the streets by a policeman.
