Chapter 25

In Chapter Twenty Five, Invisible Man describes a mannequin. He says "the body hung, white, naked, and horribly feminine from a lamppost."(p. 556) Here, he is comparing the invisibility of white women to black men. Her nakedness shows her vulnerability in this quote. In this time period, someone hanging was most likely a lynching of black men. Women and African Americans have a similar vulnerability and they have the same power held over them, women often with sex, and blacks often with violence. IM says he "felt (himself) spin with horror" which shows how IM relates to the feminine mannequin, seemingly lynched, in the store (p. 556).

Chapter 23

Our motif of sex is found in many places in Chapter 23. In this chapter the Invisible Man buys a pair of dark green shades and a hat to disguise himself from Ras who now has become more violent. When he puts on the shades and hat he is mistaken for this mysterious man named Rinehart. Rinehart has many different identities that the people of Harlem pay him to be. Rinehart is a gambler, a preacher, a man whose in depth with the police and a pimp.

The first example of sex in chapter 23 is on page 494, the Invisible Man is mistaken for Rinehart the pimp. A woman approaches the Invisible Man and tells him to “Just walk along beside me while I tell you where to meet me.”. The woman hands the Invisible Man money and asks him “Will you be able to meet me tonight?”. This woman is a prostitute and is trying to meet Rinehart or the Invisible Man later that night. This shows how women are objectified through prostitution as we’ve seen early at the Golden Day.

Another example of sex is on page 511 when the Invisible Man is having a dream. In the dream he is fantasizing about one of Rinehart’s women. He says that he remembers “grasping Rinehart’s girl’s hand.” Then he goes on to dream about her “glossy head and ripe breasts”. This shows that women are seen as this untouchable fantasy by the Invisible Man and that white women especially, are something to be seen and not touched by a black man.

The last example of sex in chapter 23 is on page 512. The Invisible Man, waking up from the dream on page 511, realizes that the way to infiltrate the Brotherhood is by the help of one of the leader's wife, girlfriend or secretary. The Invisible man starts reminiscing about his encounter with Emma when hne went to the Brotherhood’s gathering right after the Eviction Speech. The Invisible Man says that Emma was “close, soft against me and the hot swift focusing on my desire and my embarrassment” also the Invisible Man recalls on how Emma, close against him, said “Ah, temptation,” lastly he recalls on how Emma says “You should come up and fence with me some afternoon.” which is a sexual pun. This shows how the Invisible Man will now use white women for power which shows how women and still being objectified.

-Alexis Birl

chapter 24

The motif of sex is abundant in this chapter. The invisible man wants to take down the brotherhood, and to do so he needs valuable information most easily obtained through the mistresses and wives of powerful brothers. The invisible man initially wants to get information from Brother Jack's mistress, but after seeing she does not have information he quickly changes plans. His new choice is Sybil. Once alone with Sybil in his apartment she quickly proves herself a drunk, seemingly perfect for loose lips. their time in the invisible mans apartment is spent drinking until she makes a blatant request and yearning for sex. She describes herself as a nymphomaniac, a woman who wants to experiment sexually. She requests for the invisible man to rape her, and even begs him to. This temptation made by a white women is not the desire of the invisible man. His purpose is not sex but power, and this woman is taking away his power both by requesting a vulgar dehumanizing act, and by not sharing political information. The invisible man does not oblige to this request, but makes her think he did while she was passed out. Sex is used as a power tool and the power of information was the true desire of the invisible man and the request made the invisible man both want to lecture her, and feel poorly for her.

Synthesis Chapters 10-23

        Sex as a motif in Invisible Man is most often used as a symbol of power, and linked to both women(white women especially) and social taboos. However, in Chapters 10 through 23, as the Invisible Man increases in influence in the North, the forbiddenness of sex falls away and the Invisible Man begins to explore his own power through sex.

        One of the earlier experiences of positivity associated with sex comes in Chapter 16, after the Invisible Man's speech, when he could not see, but "felt [himself] pressed against warm feminine softness" (p. 347). In contrast to the past experiences where the Invisible Man is repulsed by sex, this is one of the first times where he portrays it in a positive light. Consequently, this comes with one of the first times the Invisible Man experiences power in the North; he gives his first speech with the Brotherhood, and it is an instant hit with the audience. Because of this power, he feels less negative towards sex with a white women and sex in general because he feels he is entitled to it.

       This is further seen in Chapter 19, where the Invisible Man's new ideals about sex truly manifest and he sleeps with a white women. Although the Invisible Man resists at first, torn "between the ideological and the biological, duty and desire" (p. 416), he quickly gives in. The taboo of sex, while fading, is not completely gone: part of the attraction the white women feels to him is because it is socially "wrong" for her to have sex with a black man. This is again tied to power; the white women first becomes attracted to him because of the speech he gives on the Woman Question. She further seduces him by inviting him back to her apartment and asking him to explain the ideology to her while she gets closer and closer to him. The power the Invisible Man feels wipes away his previous ideals of sex, as he says "let them break down the door, whosoever will, let them come" (p. 416).

        The Invisible Man's new associations with sex influence him further in Chapter 23, where the tables turn and he plans to use sex to gain even more power to destroy the Brotherhood. The Invisible Man realizes that he needs someone on the inside to gather information from and that this "called for a woman" (p. 512). He then remembers of Emma, a white woman he danced with at a party with the Brotherhood and thinks that "she was fair game" and that "perhaps she'd find [him] black enough, after all" (p. 512). This implies that the Invisible Man intends to seduce her to gain power over the Brotherhood with stolen information. His reference to his race again connects to the fading taboo of sex; still present, it causes white women to desire to sleep with black men because it is socially "wrong." Here, the audience sees the Invisible Man has come full circle from being terrified to touch a white women and now schemes to sleep with one to gain more power and take down the Brotherhood.

           While sex was previously viewed as repulsive and wrong by the Invisible Man, in Chapters 10 through 23, he progresses and the taboo of sex fades. He experiments with his influence through sex, even using sex to gain more power.

Chapter twenty

The motif of sex is not seen in chapter twenty.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The Sex Motif in the last couple chapters is dry to say the least. One small sexual reference I did notice was at the start of Chapter 22. The Invisible Man says: ""From your ma --" I started and caught myself in time." This is while he is being mocked by Brother Jack about "personal responsibility".  When Jack asks the IM where he got his personal responsibility, the IM gets so close to making a sexual "Yo Mamma" joke! Sadly, this was the only motif I located in chapter 22.

Chapter Twenty One

Our motif is not present in Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Eighteen

Our motif of sex is not as present in this chapters as others. The only thing relevant to sex in this chapter is when the Invisible Man is being sent downtown to speak on "Woman Question". Woman Question is a branch through the Brotherhood that speaks on women' rights. On page 406, Brother Jack told the Invisible Man that the "Woman Question" pamphlet 'On The Woman Question Of The United States' was going to be his guide. The Woman Question relates to sex because we can see that women are still being objectified like in previous chapters and it is a question whether women should have rights or not.

Chapter Thirteen

Our motif of sex is not in this chapter.

chapter 15

In chapter 15 the motif of sex is briefly seen. The Invisible Man is frantically trying to hide broken pieces in his room, and when Mary comes to check on him he is desperately trying to clean the mess and keep her out. He tells Mary that he is naked and this use of sex and vulnerability is enough to override Mary's concern, and by using sex as way to separate them the invisible man gives himself time to gather the mess.

Chapter Nineteen

The motif of sex was present in Chapter Nineteen when the Invisible Man had sex with a white woman. The Invisible Man was very conflicted about this, torn "between the ideological and the biological, duty and desire" (p. 416). Once again we see how the Invisible Man views sex differently from the rest of society, and how it is portrayed in the book. This chapter continues the theme of sex being associated with something wrong, as the Invisible Man feels guilty for weeks and weeks after this. Furthermore, we see the "wrongness" of sex portrayed in this book, as the woman is married, and she is white, which was then a social taboo. Violence is also once again associated with sex, as the Invisible Man both wanted "to smash her and to stay with her" (p. 415). In this we further see the "wrongness" of sex.

Chapter Sixteen

In chapter sixteen after Invisible Man's oration, he says he "felt myself against warm feminine softness, holding on". (p 347) This is one if the first positive mentions of sexuality. Usually sex is a topic that Invisible Man finds repulsive, however, in this chapter there is a turning point on how he views feminine attributes.

Chapter Seventeen

The beginning of Chapter 17 is focused mainly on the Brotherhood, with little attention paid to anyone but men involved, or opposing this cause. However, when fighting with Clifton, Ras begins to go on a rant, saying that the reason the Brotherhood wants to get along with whites MUST be because of their women. He refers to the black mans idea that white women are in some way a sense of freedom. Ras says "Is that the black mahn's freedom? A pat on the back and a piece of cunt without no passion?"(pg 373).  By saying this he points out that white women are used by men to enslave black men, and when black men get a taste (figuratively) of white woman, they feel a sense of equality with white men. This passage is another example of women being sexually objectified, solely being used as pawns in the mans game. It also shows just how important sex is in the culture at this time, with white women especially. According to Ras, sex with white women brings a sense of power to black men, that they otherwise lack.

Synthesis

    From the very beginning of Invisible man, a naked woman is commonly displayed as a symbol of sex. In the prologue, the Invisible Man has a hallucination, of a beautiful girl who stood before slave owners who "who bid for her naked body" (p. 9). From this point of the book on, sex is a motif commonly tied in with Power. The women Ellison writes about lack the power in almost every situation, when sex is discussed, it is forced upon the girl. This idea continues through chapter three, when Mr Trueblood uses a sick story about overpowering his daughters to gain control over the white community. Ellison makes the reader view sex as something extremely negative, showing how it can be manipulated and destroyed by men in order to gain power and control.
    Women are also commonly displayed by Ellison as nothing more than sexual objects for men's pleasure- even as tools for therapy (chapter.3). The men watch women parade themselves around for their entertainment. This portrayal of women by Ellison was done in order to show the way that women are treated in society. While it may be a little less dramatic in real life, women are still often a sex symbol. This was represented with the naked woman walking around with an American flag on her stomach (Chapter 1). A great example of this in real life is strip clubs- men literally paying money to watch women parade themselves around, similar to the Battle Royale scene in IM.
       White woman in Invisible man represent even more. These women, while often over-sexualized and walking around naked in front of men, are forbidden. Even just sitting too close to a white woman has the Invisible Man shaking and scared for his life. This fear of women, a group with almost no power, shows just how little respect African Americans received, and how hard it was for them to find power. If an extremely oppressed group, good for nothing more than the entertainment of men has the power to kill a black man just by screaming- it shows how little power they had in society. Ellison does a great job of showing this fear of white women on multiple occasions.
      Throughout the later chapters of Invisible Man, sex comes up much less often. Perhaps this signifies the Invisible Mans growth, as he moves out of one stage of his life.

Chapter Fourteen

Although sex was not explicitly mentioned in this chapter, at the beginning of the chapter, the Invisible Man was pushed into a woman named Emma "press[ed] tensely against her perfumed softness, seeing her smile as though there was only she and I"(pg. 300). This section alluded to sex, as Emma is sexualized throughout the chapter, and even dances with the Invisible Man, reminding him of the "vet's prediction" (p. 315), which was an earlier allusion to sex. In this, we see the narrator's continued association of force with sex, as he tried to avoid Emma, but was pushed into her anyway. This contrasts to the main society's vision of sex and shows how the Invisible Man's perception is often different from society.

Chapter Twelve

There is no sex in chapter twelve.

Chapter 11

While the Invisible Man is being unveiled, he is in a sate of confusion. While attempting to remember his past in this state the motif of sex appears only as a suggestion in his past. A sexually suggestive memory of a woman comes through lyrics of, "You can't see her pot for the steam..." While this is not explicit, the pot is a symbol for her vagina, and while keeping sex non-explicit Ellison shows that  sex was and is not a major identifier for the Invisible Man.

Chapter Nine

Our motif of sex was not present in this chapter.

Chapter 10

Our motif of sex was not present in Chapter 10.

Chapter Eight

The motif sex was not mentioned or alluded to in Chapter Eight.

Chapter Seven

Though sex itself is not portrayed in this chapter, there is a scene where the Invisible Man kisses a white woman. He is first crammed into a crowded train, and there he is smushed next to a white woman. He describes her skin as having a "rubbery softness" (p. 158). Rubber, an artificial material is the opposite of something comforting and thinking of it on a human body is repulsive. The Invisible Man nodded his head and accidentally brushed his lips against the white woman. His immediate reaction was to tell her it was an accident, but can't seem to use his words. He thought she would definitely cry out for help, but is surprised when she does not. Then, as the train continues he's pushed up against her, he thought surely other's were staring accusingly, but no one batted an eye. The Invisible Man sees sex as something that could get him into trouble, especially with a white woman. He finds even brushing lips with a woman disgusting, and is fearful of persecution for it.

Chapter 6

Our motif of sex did not appear in this chapter.

Chapter Five

The sex motif was only in Chapter Five for a couple lines. The Invisible Man is giving some type of speech, and in the speech he talks about Susie Gresham, the "guardian of the hot young women" (pg. 114). He says that Susie will "never be fooled with the mere content of words, not my words, not these pinfeathered flighters that stroke your lids till they flutter with ecstasy"(pg. 114). With this reference to sex, we see the continuation of the Invisible Man's association of forbidden with sex. Both Susie Gresham and the "hot young women" are presumably off limits; the women because they are guarded by Susie Gresham and Susie because she is a member of the faculty and "gray haired" (pg. 113) so it would not be socially acceptable. However, the Invisible Man still finds himself attracted to both of them.

Chapter Three

While sex was not a huge motif in chapter three, it was indirectly mentioned in a few place. When the Invisible Man heads to the bar, Golden Day, there are many mentally ill veterans who are there for a form of treatment. While some part of their therapy is drinking, it appears prostitution is another way to help the vets "heal". The Invisible man just refers to the women on the top floor as "the girls" but he wants to do everything he can to keep Mr. Norton from seeing them. Although not obvious these girls are prostitutes at first, when we learn each girl has her own bedroom upstairs, it becomes pretty clear. At one point they even call out the unfair treatment, yelling at the vets to kill their boss (pimp) because he does not pay them.
When Mr. Norton is being tended to upstairs in a girls bed after passing out, one girl begins to show intrest in him. She says "he could put his hoes under my bed any night" alluding to the fact that she wants to sleep with him. Similarly to chapters one and two, women in chapter three are not given much of a role other than sexual objects, used to entertain, taunt and even "heal" men.

Chapter Four

Our motif of sex appears only once in this chapter. The Invisible Man is heading back to his dormitory to wait for his fate with Dr. Bledsoe after bringing Mr. Norton back to campus. The girl who walked the Invisible Man and Dr. Bledsoe to Mr. Norton's room caught the Invisible Man on his way out and asked him to deliver a message to her boyfriend. The message was "green grass", a secret code used by the girl and her boyfriend. The Invisible Man was livid when he thought about how serious his situation was while she asks him to deliver a message. On his way back to his dormitory, the Invisible Man says "The grass was green and they'd meet and she'd be sent home pregnant..." (pg 105). One could connect the secret code to sex by the Invisible Man saying that the girl will end up pregnant.

Chapter Two

In the second chapter, Invisible man drives one of the founding father's, Mr. Norton, of the college he is attending around. While killing time, they see Jim Trueblood. His wife and his daughter are currently pregnant, he is the father of both children. Norton approaches Trueblood and verifies if what he has heard is true. Trueblood goes on to explain that it started because it was so cold during the night, they all "sleep together" (p. 53). In an odd sleeping arrangement, the daughter slept in between her parents. With Ellison, we are really seeing the concept of innocence be questioned and tattered by sex. "sometimes a man can look at a little ole pigtail gal and see him a whore" (p. 59) Once Trueblood has raped his daughter, he views her as worthless and calls his own child a derogatory term for an act he violently forced on her while she was asleep. Ellison is using sex to create a visceral feeling in his reader, ruining it's romanticism and making it about negative transformation.

Chapter 1
In chapter 1 the motif of sex is portrayed with a naked woman. A crowd of men are gathered around the woman as they push the invisible man into an open space with her for their entertainment. Here the ideas of sex and lust become entangled with issues of race and power. The white men who are spectating in the room both demand the invisible man, who is black, to look at her, and threaten him if he obliges. The invisible man's reactions to the women range from wanting “to love her and to murder her,” as lust confronts the complexities of white and black sexual relations (page 19). This is further complicated because he is a black man and she is a white women, making the potential repercussions of attraction dangerous.

Prologue
The sex motif made one small appearance in the prologue. The Invisible Man was having a hallucination, and at the beginning of his vision, he "saw a beautiful girl the color of ivory pleading in a voice like [his] mother's as she stood before a group of slave owners who bid for her naked body" (p. 9). In this section we see the start of how the invisible man portrays sex. It is significant that when he discusses sex, it is forced upon the girl, usually involving a transaction of money. Additionally, slave owners bidding for her body acknowledges the "slavery" that might result from sex and expectations of sex.

Group Members
Amanda Lee
Marie Cox-McMahon
Madeleine Yancy
Holly Lockhead
Alexis Birl
Our Motif: Sex

This blog is dedicated to analyzing the motif of sex within the book Invisible Man. Our goal is to grasp a better understanding of the book through this motif, and uncover deeper meanings than first appeared to us. Starting with Madeleine for the prologue, and continuing with Holly, Marie, Amanda and ending with Alexis, we will rotate through the chapters, taking turns analyzing how sex is addressed or alluded to.