The narrator, unnamed, starts giving the impression that all his life to that time had been in the shadow of African American history, making him an “invisible man”. His grandfather told him to “overcome em with yeses, undermine ‘em with grins, agree em to death and destruction.` He tells Norton, a white philanthropist, about the incestuous “fieldnigger” family of the Truebloods. Norton has his own problems and they visit The Golden Day, a black brothel for war veterans, to normalise their behaviour. To his dismay, the narrator sees black doctors, teachers, lawyers and businessmen, the black bourgeoisie he aspires to. Further he is expelled from college.
He finds work in the optic paints factory, but is injured in
an explosion. In hospital he Overhears talk that he is to be given a lobotomy
and he discharges himself. Returning to Harlem he is asked to be the spokesman
for a group being evicted from their homes. He is mythified as a stud by one of
the white “sisters. Eventually he becomes disillusioned with the group,
becoming something of a “Don Quixote” complete with “horse and shield”. Later
he takes to wearing dark glasses and is mistaken for Bliss Proteus Rinehart, a
numbers man, lover, clergyman and politician. At the end he burns his high
school diploma and other letters of recommendation to “free’ himself. His final
message – “who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you.
Brother Jack, the leader of the Black Brotherhood appoints the narrator “the
new Booker T. Washington” and the novel did in fact win The National Book
Award. The humour and irony as well as its lyrical style make it one of the
great books, commenting on life in the United States.It was first published in
1952.
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