Major Themes In Invisible Man

2. Major themes in Invisible Man include the fact that African Americans need to and do tell lies to the white man in order to please him. This is practiced by every African American who knows what’s good for himself. Dr. Bledsoe affirms this on page 139 when talking to the protagonist about his misdemeanor. The protagonist does this throughout the entire story. When he talks to Mr. Norton, to rich, white folks in New York, and to the committee members. Another major theme is that the protagonist is an invisible man. He lives in a society that is racist and blind. And every single African American is an invisible man, for no matter how far a black man gets in life or how much he succeeds, he will always “boomerang” back to his original starting point. The protagonist states this everywhere in the book, and admits and acknowledges this on page 573, and knows that this will always be an aspect of American society.
Throughout the book the protagonist develops and changes in numerous ways. In the beginning, he acts like that of a good, African American college student who always follows orders; especially from white people. However, throughout the story he starts to change his mindset, his way of thinking, his way of acting, and his way of speaking. The experiences with Mr. Norton, those with the Golden Day, his journey up north, and his actions with the Brotherhood all had a tremendous impact on his character development. To me, the event that had the most influence on his character development was the incident with the couple that was being evicted. This totally changed him and his personality. He became more open to the social problems facing his people, and he did something to make a difference about