Invisible man questions: Ch. 20-22

Chapter 20

1.     The narrator has been away from Harlem for several months. What “emergency” calls him back downtown?

The narrator has came back to Harlem because the Brotherhood called him to tell him that Tod Clifton was missing.

2.     What changes have taken place in the movement since he left. (Note how things have changed in the Jolly Dollar Bar.

When the narrator goes back to the Jolly Dollar Bar he doesn’t find his favorite brother Maceo and all the men that used to be called “brothers” do not want to be called “brothers” anymore.

3.     What does Ellison mean when he says that returning to Harlem was “like returning to the city of the dead?”

I think that Ellison means that Harlem is so dead, not literally but everything seems so dull and un-alive, no one is there and everyone seems hopeless and missing. Harlem feels unfamiliar and changed to the narrator.

4. What is Clifton selling?

He is selling Sambo dolls.

5. How does the Sambo doll relate to the Sambo bank?

The sambo doll and the sambo bank are related because the word “sambo” refers to blacks that let themselves be manipulated. Sambo is a man who laughs and is permits others to use them. 

6. What do you think the doll symbolizes? Consider the fact that it is a puppet whose strings are pulled.

I think that the dolls symbolize white inferiority against blacks. It symbolizes the control that whites have over blacks and that are sometimes used as entertainment, just like in chapter 1 in the royal battle. Just like the puppets that are controlled by someone with strings attached for entertainment.

7. How does Tod Clifton die? What is the narrator’s reaction to his death?

Tod is shoot by a police officer and the narrator is shocked and horrified for what he just witnessed.

 

Chapter 21

1.     Why does the narrator feel guilt over Clifton’s death?

He feels like he could have helped come up with a solution to Clifton’s problem that he also feels bad and disappointed that he couldn’t find out what and why he was selling dolls. He feels like the answer is lost.

2.     Look at the funeral speech. How many times does the narrator use Clifton’s name? Why so many?

I think he uses his name so many times to emphasize on his death and the point he is trying to make. When someone repeats something a lot they try to catch attention to that specifically thing.

Chapter 22

1.     Why is the meeting with the Brotherhood described in terms of a dream?

The meeting is described in terms of a dream to make a bit of suspense for the narrator… the room is dark and there is only one light. The narrator compares it to a dream he often has about his grandfather. In his dream his grandfather is staring at him from across the room and he finds it similar to the way that the brothers were starring at him.

2.     On p. 463, the members are said to have “flowed in one channel too long and too deeply.” What does this mean? I think it means that they have been stuck on the same ideas for too long and too deeply that it’s noticeable and sad that they can’t move forward with these same ideas.

3.     Why does the Brotherhood object to the phrase “personal responsibility?”

They object the phrase because they still believe in the same ideas about doing things together and agreeing on things together as brothers.  

4.     Contrast the reaction of the Brotherhood to the funeral speech to the audience’s reaction to the graduation speech. Has the narrator come full circle?

The Brotherhood was very angry and curious to why the narrator did a funeral to Clifton whom they say was a “traitor”

5.     What is the significance of Brother Jack’s glass eye? How does it develop the sight image that is throughout the book?

I think the significance of Brother Jack’s glass eye is that the glass eye is used to make him see better but really he doesn’t seem to actually see and realize what is going on around him.