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