North Vs. South In The Invisible Man
Within the novel North and South used as contrasting places, which represent a shift of ideals not only in the residents of the area, but in the narrator as well. The South is most heavily represented in the first 6 chapters of the novel and where chapters 8-25 take place in the North. The south takes on the characteristic if an old way of thinking with ridged boundaries between black and white, where the North represents a greater flexibility when it comes to traditional ideas. However, with in the book the distinctions between the two geological locations are not as cut and dry as limiting and free or conservative and liberal. The north enlightens the invisible man to the backward ways of the South, but also introduces him to a more subtle
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Much like the vision of the North for fleeing slaves, it wasn’t the safe haven expected to be: the North however more liberal is riddled with racism and discrimination. While in the city the Invisible Man has trouble finding a job and takes up work the first chance offered, which happens to be a paint factory with the titled “Keep America Pure with Liberty Paints” and with the slogan “If It’s Optic White, It’s Right” and under the management of Mr. Kimbro a man referred to by his employees as “[a] slave driver” (p.196, 199). The Invisible Man has to take up this job to have money to live, essentially becoming a slave to the company, which will pay enough to sustain life, but not enough to get ahead. This parallels issues escaped blacks would encounter; in order to survive they had to take low paying jobs that would never allow them to advance or provided for their children with opportunity so they could advance in society. The Invisible Man’s realization of the manipulative forces of the Brotherhood represents the emancipation, he is free from the illusion that the organization is trying to help him and fellow black Americans. However, just like the newly freed salves realized after the abolition of slavery, the whites that held control had had so much power previously they could still negatively affect their lives after they no longer had official control over them, in the book this can be seen in the Brotherhoods involvement in the
Much like the vision of the North for fleeing slaves, it wasn’t the safe haven expected to be: the North however more liberal is riddled with racism and discrimination. While in the city the Invisible Man has trouble finding a job and takes up work the first chance offered, which happens to be a paint factory with the titled “Keep America Pure with Liberty Paints” and with the slogan “If It’s Optic White, It’s Right” and under the management of Mr. Kimbro a man referred to by his employees as “[a] slave driver” (p.196, 199). The Invisible Man has to take up this job to have money to live, essentially becoming a slave to the company, which will pay enough to sustain life, but not enough to get ahead. This parallels issues escaped blacks would encounter; in order to survive they had to take low paying jobs that would never allow them to advance or provided for their children with opportunity so they could advance in society. The Invisible Man’s realization of the manipulative forces of the Brotherhood represents the emancipation, he is free from the illusion that the organization is trying to help him and fellow black Americans. However, just like the newly freed salves realized after the abolition of slavery, the whites that held control had had so much power previously they could still negatively affect their lives after they no longer had official control over them, in the book this can be seen in the Brotherhoods involvement in the