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1-Page Summary of Invisible Man
Overview
The novel begins with a prologue about the narrator’s current state. He is depressed and living in an underground lair, sucking electricity from New York into his many light bulbs. The story will be about how he came to this place.
The narrator remembers when he was a young boy and his grandfather told him that he’d have to give an oration at the white men’s fancy ballroom. He is then asked by one of the white men if he would like to fight in their battle royal for entertainment, which has naked dancing women and blindfolded boxing matches. The narrator fights against Tatlock, who is much bigger than him, but manages to win after several rounds of fighting.
The next stage of the novel requires the boys to grab for gold coins on a rug which turns out to be electrified. The narrator is finally allowed to give his oration and is awarded a scholarship to a renowned black college. At college, he is first faced with disillusionment as he relates the day he was given an honor by driving an old white trustee around campus. He drives Mr. Norton into a poor district of black sharecroppers where Norton becomes interested in Jim Trueblood who’s rumored to have impregnated both his wife and daughter (which happened). After this episode, Mr. Norton feels faint so they take him to Golden Day brothel in order find whisky that will revive him but during their visit, mental patients revolt against their attendant trapping them inside until help arrives from Dr. Bledsoe who speaks of the narrator’s invisibility before passing out himself which leads back to school where Mr. Bledsoe tells him that if only showed what the school wanted seen rather than showing it all like being expelled and sent off with seven sealed letters promising return when able working for someone important in New York City taking advantage of opportunity while stunned still wanting more than just one job at time wants something better can do something different instead doesn’t want just anything needs money though not sure how much how long it’ll last maybe even get rich someday hopefully won’t need any luck though life has been hard enough already might forget about everything else except work isn’t going anywhere unless gets up now get moving don’t stop looking straight ahead never look back keep your eyes open no matter what happens go for broke
The narrator arrives in Harlem, New York, and rents a room at the Men’s House. He then goes out to hand out his letters of recommendation but is only able to give them to secretaries. The employers never contact him so he becomes suspicious and holds back one letter for Mr. Emerson who owns an office building in which the employer works. The son takes the letter from him instead of giving it directly to his father as was promised, but eventually shows him Dr. Bledsoe’s response which says that he will not be allowed back into college or even allowed on campus if he returns there temporarily because Dr. Bledsoe does not want him there anymore after what happened with Suellen when they were younger (the reason why he left).
The narrator’s thoughts and feelings are jumbled during the day he works at the paint plant. His boss, Mr. Kimbro, is very brusque and demanding; however, he doesn’t give much instruction or allow questions to be asked of him. The narrator mixes in the wrong ingredient into the paint because of his fear of asking Kimbro about how to do it correctly and gets fired from that job. He then goes to work for a new boss, Mr. Brockway, who has a paranoid feeling that someone is trying to take his job away from him (the narrator). They get along well until after lunch when they return from getting their lunches together in which they ran into what seems like union members but we later realize was Brotherhood members meeting up with each other on break time before going back out onto their jobs again as painters for hire by contractors doing construction projects around town. Brockway explodes in anger at this thought that there might be union activity within his company since he believes unions will ruin business owners’ profits if workers decide not to work as hard anymore since they’ll have more rights than before under unionization laws passed by government officials over the years following World War II through present times today. Because of their lack of attention being paid towards gauges monitoring pressure tanks full of chemicals used in making paints for contractors doing construction projects around town, these tanks explode due to all the pressure built up inside them causing an explosion so strong that it knocks both men off their feet and covers them head-to-toe with white paint so thick you can no longer tell who’s who between Brockway and our unnamed narrator character except for one: The way Brockway fights back against our protagonist once he realizes what happened here makes us believe this man must have been a former boxer or MMA fighter during some point in his life judging by how effectively he attacks our protagonist without any hesitation whatsoever even though it means certain death should either one slip up just once during combat.
