Have Some Trust for the Invisible Man

There are times in our lives when we see the actions of others and feel as though we are wise enough to understand just what is going on by seeing through the surface and being able to assume peoples intentions. However, it takes time and experience to be able to do this, and even then it is still challenging to interpret these said intentions. In Invisible Man, we as readers, see the scenes play out from a birds eye view, seeing the entirety of the situation and have the ability to say to ourselves, "Something isn't right." And we all experience that anxiety that sweeps over us when we realize the character in the situation doesn't see what we see, therefore handling it in a way other than how we think they should handle it. For instance, in the battle royal scene the narrator is giving his speech after being brutally beaten, to a crowd of rude and unconcerned men. After finally extinguishing their laughing fit, they present the narrator with a briefcase and a diploma which the narrator accepts gladly. As readers, though we are delighted by his happiness and opportunity, we are hesitant to find the men's intentions anything but deceitful. Even the narrator finds an undertone of doubt in his dreams which he simply discards.

It is this trust in others that can make people be considered naive and young. The narrators trust in people is portrayed throughout the novel with almost everyone he encounters. He trusts Dr. Bledsoe, who after sending him away promises his return after spending time in New York working with a company Dr. Bledsoe will set up for him. It isn't until later that the narrator realizes this mistake in trusting Bledsoe when he reads a letter that was meant for a working possibility that states he was expelled and will not be returning. The narrator trusts the doctors who electrocute him, the Brotherhood, who even from the beginning the reader gets a bad feeling about, and the number of women he associates himself with. Practically every person he trusts, ends up stabbing him in the back, and yet, his trust in people and society do not flounder until the very end. He does not grow up, he is not wise, but he has experience. Experience can make a person grow up and be wise. His decisions lead him to be more mature in the sense of being independent, by thinking about his own thoughts and opinions instead of going along with what everyone else might say. After the riot in the last scene, the narrator ends up in a hole in the ground where he burns all his possessions from the briefcase. This symbolizes his progression towards independence, which leads to growth and maturity. Even though it takes him the entire novel to learn, the narrator finally understands that to make it in this world, you cannot trust anyone but yourself. Which is depicted in the final scene and the prologue where he is living underground, safe from the outside world's influence. Though the Invisible Man does not end up growing up as we might have hoped by the end of the novel, he showed promise towards getting there.