The Symbolic Lens In Foster's The Invisible Man

Within the first paragraphs of Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man”, the narrator, or more commonly known as the “invisible man” (3), invites us into his past, bracing us for the rollercoaster ride of a lifetime he has survived. However, we as readers quickly grasp the literary lens outlined by Thomas Foster’s “How to Read Literature like a Professor” within the story, creating an in depth tale of an oppressed man’s troubled life, rather than shallowly glancing at his existence like a stale article in a local newspaper. Themes such as location and vision, whether symbolic or literal, play substantial roles throughout the entirety of “The Invisible Man”, returning us to specific chapters in Foster’s book focusing on the quest, the geography, and the true vision.

While reading the

Invisible Man, the theme dealing with the narrator’s “quest” or true meaning behind his “trip” from south to north is quite apparent throughout the entire book. The narrator’s actual story begins when he is invited to give a speech to a group of influential and valuable white men who reward him with a briefcase holding a scholarship to a distinguished black college. However, he is first thrown into a “battle royal”, blindfolded and forced to face other black men in a boxing ring (27), and race one another for fake gold coins on an electrified rug (28). Three years later when the narrator is a college student, a fight arises due to race based conflict while out with a white college trustee, Mr. Norton. Later that night, the narrator is scolded by the college president, Dr. Bledsoe, expelled, and sent to New York City to find a job. Instantly, the north is more accepting of the narrator, although his job search is found unsuccessful, until he is given the opportunity of working for Liberty Paints plant, whose trademark color is "Optic White" (196).
With the narrator’s quest, comes unfolding layers that play ample roles in the overall story.

In Chapter 25, Foster suggests us not to “read with our eyes”, but with a different perspective, allowing us to comprehend the appropriate time period or and issues that fall within that period (Foster - 232). Although his advice is seemingly meant only towards the general novel, the circulating idea of using our eyes comes into play when we are introduced with an abundant amount of references to vision and seeing both figuratively and literally. Liberty Paints plant’s trademark color of “Optic White” is only the beginning of allusions towards sight. The narrator himself is “invisible” to those around him, living in a basement with 1,369 light bulbs (7), and although he is physically in existence, not a soul surrounding him seems to be able to see him. Lack of sight is also prominent in this story, as the narrator was blindfolded and humiliated, reverend Barbee is blind (181), and Jack from the Brotherhood is missing one eye (474). Together, this reveals to us that not only does the lack of vision complicate and insinuate conflict, but the curse of having the ability to see also generates

unrest.
Thomas Foster meant it when he told us geography matters, as it is the “people inhabiting spaces”, any maybe even more compellingly “at the same time the spaces that inhabit humans” (Foster - 171).” When writers send characters south, it is so that they can run amok”, however, the narrator was sent north for work; in essence, Foster’s lesson is explicitly present in the narrator’s story, only reversed. The geography within “The invisible man” ties the audience back to the overall quest, as the true meaning to the narrator’s trip was self reliance, gaining identity, and “social equality” (31). The narrator may have never truly obtained any of the ideas set out on his quest, as he has stayed underground ever since fleeing policemen during a Harlem riot. However, the end of his story is also the beginning just as the beginning was seemingly the end. The narrator finally tells us that he has come to the realization that he must accept his complicated and fascinatingly intricate internal conflicts and stay true to his self, to his own identity of not having one, without letting his fellow community down.
Ralph Ellison and Thomas Foster lead us down intertwining paths while reading both “The Invisible Man” and “How to Read Literature like a Professor”. Geography intruded, hindered, and aided the trip taken over by the narrator throughout his life, while symbolic concepts and motifs guided us to reach certain conclusions and interpretations as we developed a devoted reader-character relationship with the narrator. And ultimately, the narrator’s quest, spanning over the majority of his lifetime, is finally complete, as the narrator declares that he feels ready at last surface from underground and face society with his own paradoxical identity (580); he is no longer invisible.