Eye See You Ellison
"A glass eye. A buttermilk white eye distorted by the light rays. An eye staring fixedly at me as from the dark waters of a well" (Ellison 466).
While first reading this passage, I was taken aback by the sudden popping out of Jack's eyeball. While I found it humorous, more than that, I found it bewildering. During this scene, Jack uses his glass eye to intimidate the narrator. The reader can see that the narrator is visibly uncomfortable and disturbed by the loss of Jack's eye.
The most obvious interpretation of Jack's glass eye popping out of its socket is naturally a reference to blindness. Jack, representing the entire Brotherhood, is not only blind physically but also socially blind. This is evident when Jack gets angry with the narrator for supporting Todd Clifton and his funeral. The Brotherhood sees Todd Clifton as a traitor for selling Sambo Dolls, which are a racist and stereotypical depiction of black people, when he was once an active advocate for equality within society. Concerning Clifton's death, what the Brotherhood fails to see, or rather ignores, is the fact that Clifton's death was related to his race. Instead, what they choose to focus on is the fact that he was selling racist Sambo dolls and therefore want to disassociate themselves with him. In this way, the Brotherhood is not only blind to the idea that Clifton's murder was racially motivated, but they also value the fact that Clifton was selling racist dolls over his own murder and life.
By ignoring the factor of race in Clifton's murder, the Brotherhood is essentially doing the opposite of what they claim to be doing. Instead of fighting for equality, the Brotherhood is just trying to protect their own image by disassociating themselves with Clifton and his Sambo dolls. The Brotherhood remains "blind" because they choose to ignore the factor that race plays into Clifton's murder to avoid the risk of being seen badly by the public because Clifton sold racist dolls.
The Brotherhood is also blind in the way that all their members blindly follow whatever Jack says. This is demonstrated when Jack tells the narrator that the narrator only gets to speak to the public about what the Brotherhood wants him to say rather than what the narrator sees as right. This insinuates that in order to be a member of the Brotherhood, one must only promote and do what the Brotherhood says. In this way, the members of the Brotherhood are only blindly following the organization's ideas rather than their own opinions.
In addition to referencing the blindness of society and the Brotherhood, as we mentioned in class, Jack having one eye is comparable to the Cyclops in The Odyssey. In The Odyssey, the Cyclops named Polyphemus traps Odysseus and his men in his cave and attempts to eat them all. This can be connected back to Invisible Man because Jack, playing the role of the Cyclops, essentially "traps" other men by getting them to join the Brotherhood and then "eats" their opinions by basically not letting them have one that differs from his. Later in The Odyssey, Odysseus offers wine to the Cyclops, disorienting him, and while he is disoriented, Odysseus and his men stab the Cyclops. This is similar to the narrator's grandfather's idea of following and agreeing on the outside (giving them wine) but on the inside, doing things for your own agenda and motives (stabbing them).
Personally, I really enjoy seeing and analyzing the little Easter eggs that Ellison includes in Invisible Man. As demonstrated by this post, there are a lot of small events in Ellison's writing which can be interpreted in many different ways. How will the element of blindness play out in the rest of the novel? Does Ellison's allusion to The Odyssey foreshadow the rest of the book's plot?
While first reading this passage, I was taken aback by the sudden popping out of Jack's eyeball. While I found it humorous, more than that, I found it bewildering. During this scene, Jack uses his glass eye to intimidate the narrator. The reader can see that the narrator is visibly uncomfortable and disturbed by the loss of Jack's eye.
The most obvious interpretation of Jack's glass eye popping out of its socket is naturally a reference to blindness. Jack, representing the entire Brotherhood, is not only blind physically but also socially blind. This is evident when Jack gets angry with the narrator for supporting Todd Clifton and his funeral. The Brotherhood sees Todd Clifton as a traitor for selling Sambo Dolls, which are a racist and stereotypical depiction of black people, when he was once an active advocate for equality within society. Concerning Clifton's death, what the Brotherhood fails to see, or rather ignores, is the fact that Clifton's death was related to his race. Instead, what they choose to focus on is the fact that he was selling racist Sambo dolls and therefore want to disassociate themselves with him. In this way, the Brotherhood is not only blind to the idea that Clifton's murder was racially motivated, but they also value the fact that Clifton was selling racist dolls over his own murder and life.
By ignoring the factor of race in Clifton's murder, the Brotherhood is essentially doing the opposite of what they claim to be doing. Instead of fighting for equality, the Brotherhood is just trying to protect their own image by disassociating themselves with Clifton and his Sambo dolls. The Brotherhood remains "blind" because they choose to ignore the factor that race plays into Clifton's murder to avoid the risk of being seen badly by the public because Clifton sold racist dolls.
The Brotherhood is also blind in the way that all their members blindly follow whatever Jack says. This is demonstrated when Jack tells the narrator that the narrator only gets to speak to the public about what the Brotherhood wants him to say rather than what the narrator sees as right. This insinuates that in order to be a member of the Brotherhood, one must only promote and do what the Brotherhood says. In this way, the members of the Brotherhood are only blindly following the organization's ideas rather than their own opinions.
In addition to referencing the blindness of society and the Brotherhood, as we mentioned in class, Jack having one eye is comparable to the Cyclops in The Odyssey. In The Odyssey, the Cyclops named Polyphemus traps Odysseus and his men in his cave and attempts to eat them all. This can be connected back to Invisible Man because Jack, playing the role of the Cyclops, essentially "traps" other men by getting them to join the Brotherhood and then "eats" their opinions by basically not letting them have one that differs from his. Later in The Odyssey, Odysseus offers wine to the Cyclops, disorienting him, and while he is disoriented, Odysseus and his men stab the Cyclops. This is similar to the narrator's grandfather's idea of following and agreeing on the outside (giving them wine) but on the inside, doing things for your own agenda and motives (stabbing them).
Personally, I really enjoy seeing and analyzing the little Easter eggs that Ellison includes in Invisible Man. As demonstrated by this post, there are a lot of small events in Ellison's writing which can be interpreted in many different ways. How will the element of blindness play out in the rest of the novel? Does Ellison's allusion to The Odyssey foreshadow the rest of the book's plot?
I agree with the reference to the Odyssey. The glass eye popping out was a literal metaphor for blindness, which also reminded me of Mrs. Dalton's blindness in Native Son. In Invisible Man and Native Son alike, this physical representation of blindness stood to point out the Brotherhood and the Daltons respective inabilities to see the reality of racial issues around them.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many blindness metaphors getting brought up throughout the book, that I'm really curious for when the narrator will have his eyes opened further. He can recognize the blindness of all the ignorant people around him, but is surprisingly naive when it comes to himself. Every time it seems that the narrator has finally figured things out, he walks straight into another blindfold.
ReplyDeleteThe whole book is a metaphor for blindness. What you can't see is invisible. The Brotherhood encapsulate this statement. The refuse to acknowledge their own followers, made clear by their response to Tod Clifton's death. While they trip over themselves to denounce his 'racist' actions (selling the dolls), they ironically ignore the racially motivated murder of one their members. Excellent pun with the eye thing btw!
ReplyDeleteEye see what you've done with the title, props for that pun. I agree with the metaphors regarding blindness Ellison has clearly portrayed with Brother Jack. Not only is he partially blind physically, he has a narrow view of how the world works metaphorically, which is seen through the motives of the brotherhood. With all this talk of greek myths like the odyssey, I wonder if brother jacks eye could also be like the eye the three fates share when they predict the future. Brother Jack, as the leader of the brotherhood, could symbolically represent the eye everyone else sees with. They blindly follow his vision towards this 'post racial' future, that really only benefits the brotherhood, similar to how the fate sisters use the eye to predict the future of people. Ironic how the fates are sisters, and the brotherhood are 'brothers'.
ReplyDeleteI also saw the hypocrisy of the Brotherhood in the whole situation with Clifton's death. They completely throw away everything just to save their reputation, revealing that they don't really have much of a strong set of principles and they make it seem they do. The "sketchy" nature of the Brotherhood is finally confirmed through this scene, and the narrator is finally able to see that he was right in being suspicious about the organization.
ReplyDelete