Seeing the Invisible Man

Throughout Their Eyes Were Watching God , we see Janie defining her life with this imaginary concept of a "perfect" relationship. With Nanny constantly watching over her, wanting her to marry as soon as possible to a man with the material and financial stability to keep her happy, she rushes into relationships, suppressing her desires and following Nanny's instead. But after her traumatic relationships with Logan and Jody, Janie decides to follow her own wants instead, despite the unwanted criticism and opinions on her relationships from the whole town watching her every move. This break from the cycle of relationships and unhappiness represents a turning point for Janie. She is no longer living based off of what others want for her. Picking Tea Cake means she finally chose to let go and put her own happiness over others.  Her relationship with Tea Cake had questionable moments, but she was definitely far happier with him than the first two. The end of Tea Cake meant the

I was confused when I read this poem for the first time. And the second time. As well as the third and fourth times, but I gradually understood more with each readthrough. With such complex language and references all throughout the poem, there's a lot to unpack. I realize now, post-poetry recitation, that I should have led with a bit of my analysis before asking for yours. I had a lot of points to cover that I didn't get to, so here's a bit more of my analysis on "Boy Breaking Glass": In the first stanza and title, Brooks describes the foundational point in this poem: the boy breaking a glass window. The window represents expectations, restrictions, and rules from outside perspectives. He is creating something new for his generation by breaking the window and making this loud, shattering statement that will spread, piercing everything around him like glass shards flying everywhere. The outside perspectives criticize his actions, telling him it's "treaso

"I heard the cover settle over the manhole with a dull clang."  It was dark, again. The police had the power and were above the narrator, again. Over and over again, we see the narrator's never-ending cycle of struggles throughout the novel. With small details hinting at unfair societal structures, power imbalances, and deeply rooted racism, Ellison subtly but successfully conveys the constant conflicts the narrator has - and more generally, Black people have - to struggle with.  "I tried to find the usual ladder that leads out of such holes, but there was none. I had to have a light, and now on my hands and knees, holding tight to my brief case, I searched the coal until I found the folder of matches the men had dropped..."  Hinting at unfair circumstances people are born into, but somehow have to navigate through. In this case, the narrator is literally in a hole. He's so much further behind than everyone else in society, yet has to reach their level to be

Visibility: the state of being able to see or be seen.   In the novel, there's an interesting dynamic between the narrator's visibility with himself and his visibility to others. It's almost a proportional relationship. As the narrator furthers his connections to the Brotherhood, he gains more exposure, and he is well-known to the general public. In this way, he's definitely visible to everyone else. However, as a result, the narrator loses the ability to see his own reality. He's so blinded by all the exciting opportunities from the Brotherhood that he can no longer see his genuine self, morals, and the truth behind the ongoing racial issues. He's caught up in their ideology, following their orders and words to say instead of his own. Even his natural thoughts and actions change to align with the Brotherhood. As a result, his unawareness of the Brotherhood's effects makes him invisible to, or unable to see, his own identity. I feel like the narrator is almo

"Somewhere a machine began to hum and I distrusted the man and woman above me"... "Be quiet now," one of them said firmly. "You'll be all right" (232). And just like that, he was silenced.  In chapter eleven, the narrator wakes up in a hospital where he sees several unfamiliar figures. The whole chapter reminded me of a Marionette: a puppet controlled by strings. Immobilized and unable to make decisions for himself, the narrator could be considered "lifeless" like a puppet. Although his facial and physical features seem to show a human, he was definitely not treated as such, but rather, as a puppet.  However, instead of a regular puppet that is directly controlled by a single person's hand and has no strings, a Marionette is more complicated: In this case, the people behind the strings controlling the narrator in this chapter are the doctors, but more generally, the white people who dominate society. And even the cross at the top where st

That's probably not true, by definition, but it does feel frustrating and confusing. In Native Son , we run into aspects of naturalism throughout the book. Naturalism says that "natural forces predetermine a character’s decisions" which make them act a certain way. However, it almost feels wrong to label Bigger's crimes as "natural". Do his circumstances and environments really make that much of an impact? If you had two people, with the same circumstances and upbringing, would they really turn out just the same? Twins don't. If you lived the life of Bigger Thomas, would the story play out just the same? ...Who knows.  Coming to terms with the idea that you have no sense of control over your life doesn't seem like the best experience to go through. Yet, Bigger felt like this at the end of  Native Son , simply accepting that this is how his life will end. He had no choice. He did all that he could do.  But wait! He's not guilty. In fact, he didn&#