Dr. Bledsoe's The Invisible Man Who Is A Villain
Invisible Man Essay
3) Select a character from the novel who is a villain, and then analyze the nature of the character’s villainy and show how it enhances the meaning of the work.
In the novel, The Invisible Man, there are many characters that go against the Invisible Man and try to keep him from succeeding. The definition of a Villain is: A wicked or evil person; a scoundrel; A dramatic or fictional character who is typically at odds with the hero. Since the Invisible Man is the protagonist of the novel, Dr. Bledsoe would fit as a villain towards him. Dr. Bledsoe is the president of the IM’s college, and the IM looks up to him until he turns out to be a big phony. While Dr. Bledsoe preaches a doctrine of hard work and humility as the key to black advancement, he retains his power as president of the college by "playing the nigger" – he scrapes, bows, and all the while deceives the powerful white men upon whose patronage his power depends. Thus Dr. Bledsoe's supposed commitment to his race is a sham; at one point he declares that he would see every black man in the country lynched before he would give up his position of authority. What makes Dr. Bledsoe such an influential villain is that the protagonist (IM) truly did trust in him and look up to him as a role model. …show more content…
Bledsoe, although a villain to the IM and to the entire black community, the IM is still able to learn a lot about him when it comes to his invisibility. The IM learns that to be invisible is to be unacknowledged by others, and he learns that by “playing a role” or pretending to be something that you are not (mask’s) you end up losing your true self and sense of identity. Behind the many masks of Bledsoe, he ends up getting lost in his multiple identities and does not know who he is. Bledsoe seems to be blind to the fact that he too is black, and although he may have a higher position than other blacks, he is still “invisible” in the eyes of the white people to whom he “sucks up”
3) Select a character from the novel who is a villain, and then analyze the nature of the character’s villainy and show how it enhances the meaning of the work.
In the novel, The Invisible Man, there are many characters that go against the Invisible Man and try to keep him from succeeding. The definition of a Villain is: A wicked or evil person; a scoundrel; A dramatic or fictional character who is typically at odds with the hero. Since the Invisible Man is the protagonist of the novel, Dr. Bledsoe would fit as a villain towards him. Dr. Bledsoe is the president of the IM’s college, and the IM looks up to him until he turns out to be a big phony. While Dr. Bledsoe preaches a doctrine of hard work and humility as the key to black advancement, he retains his power as president of the college by "playing the nigger" – he scrapes, bows, and all the while deceives the powerful white men upon whose patronage his power depends. Thus Dr. Bledsoe's supposed commitment to his race is a sham; at one point he declares that he would see every black man in the country lynched before he would give up his position of authority. What makes Dr. Bledsoe such an influential villain is that the protagonist (IM) truly did trust in him and look up to him as a role model. …show more content…
Bledsoe, although a villain to the IM and to the entire black community, the IM is still able to learn a lot about him when it comes to his invisibility. The IM learns that to be invisible is to be unacknowledged by others, and he learns that by “playing a role” or pretending to be something that you are not (mask’s) you end up losing your true self and sense of identity. Behind the many masks of Bledsoe, he ends up getting lost in his multiple identities and does not know who he is. Bledsoe seems to be blind to the fact that he too is black, and although he may have a higher position than other blacks, he is still “invisible” in the eyes of the white people to whom he “sucks up”