How Did Invisible Man Choose His Own Identity

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The Invisible Man did not get to choose his own identity. His identity was chosen by everyone he knew. His personality tends to not fit in, be more naive, and stands out against the social norms back in that time. The Invisible Man based his identity and reality on how people see him. For example, when people thought he was Rinehart, he started to talk and act more like a thug then he would. He even questioned himself about why he was acting so different.

When the Invisible Man was still trying to get into college, white people were telling him to either keep his mouth shut, smile and be a good little black man or they were telling him to crack and prove that they (white people) were superior in the way they portray themselves. When he went …show more content…

He was the well mannered, soft spoken “ideal” black person to college board and other white people. He did as they told him, spoke when they told him, and told them what they wanted to hear. He was the exact same to his boss, Mr. Norton, who he drove for. When the Invisible Man goes up North, he meets others in the Brotherhood and essentially becomes a puppet for them. He willingly does speeches for them and become this completely different persona from the last. Before he was quiet and did his best to please everyone, now he is taking on the personality of someone who is not afraid to speak his mind, to question things, or to become a white conservatives boogyman. Even later, he takes up a more gangster like persona when people start calling him Rinehart. He didn’t have to get into a fight or go along with who those girls were assuming he was. If the Invisible Man did have a personality of his own, he wouldn’t be so easily swayed by complete strangers to basically become a thug. If he had his own personality, along with common sense, with a shred of decency, he would have told those girls that he was not Rinehart long before they started to yell at him. This all shows that he acts based on the way people think of him. If he truly gained his personality by self-reflection, he would have acted about the same in different senarios, instead of being completely different each time. He shifts the

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