Baby Steps

At this point in the book (chapter 12 at the point of writing), our hero the narrator is starting to grow a pair. But to what extent? Clearly he's made some progress, as his ridiculously naive younger self used to not even pause to think about being humiliated and puppeted in the first chapter, and I'm very happy to see that there's some character development. Conversely, we can't say that he has fully developed Emersonian self-reliance either. For example, he doesn't talk back to the union, and they were clearly unfairly accusing him. In the prologue I think we can safely say that he's fully reached that level of self-reliance, basically almost killing a guy and stealing power from an unused basement. So how far is he down the line from Chapter 1 to the Prologue? In my experience, when you stand up for yourself for the first time, you gain confidence for the next time. And the next time, and the time after that. It's like a snowball; once you get rolling you turn into an entire snowman. So even though he's only at this point fought a man three times his age, I think we aren't far from the point where he becomes completely self-reliant. We still have over half the book left to see what happens though.

However, I'm proud of the narrator for making it this far. After the battle royale, we still have incidents like the drive with Norton, the dream, and being on the bus, where he's just annoyingly unaware of everything being thrown at him. At least he's taken the tiny step forward in starting to formulate thoughts of rebellion, and accidentally baptizing a reverend. Which is hilarious by the way, but also a giant leap forward for my personal opinion of the narrator. And I'm curious to see where he goes next. One thing this novel has done a good job of in my opinion is being unpredictable, plotwise. Even if bordering on unrealistic (maybe surrealistic is better), reading about what's being thrown at the narrator has been one heck of a wild ride. It was really interesting to me in Tuesday's discussion that we compared Bledsoe to Lucious Brockway, and I'm wondering if more parallel characters will be introduced as the story develops. What do you guys think?

Comments

  1. Ethan AshbrookSeptember 12, 2018 at 6:58 PM

    I'm also really big into how crazy the plot is becoming. It makes the book a lot more fun to read. And I agree with you on how the idea of how narrator is just taking "baby steps" for now. But it's weird to think about how he's gone through a battle royal, a group of insane vets, and getting expelled from college among other things, and he's only now that he's starting to realize something might be off with how he's living his life. Maybe that may be going to show how deeply rooted the white ideals of society are rooted in the narrator and how difficult it is for him to finally stray from those ideas. But needless to say, I hope the wackiness keeps up.

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  2. UnknownSeptember 12, 2018 at 7:42 PM

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  3. EmmaSeptember 12, 2018 at 7:45 PM

    I also feel this sense of personal pride when the narrator stands up for himself. I feel like I'm watching a child grow up in a bizarre way. I'm also optimistic about the development of his identity (although I'm cheating because we're now on chapter 15). In any case, I think you're right about the "baby steps" idea. These small events will hopefully culminate into a climax in which the narrator transcends his unawareness into a more enlightened state of being.

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  4. Ayah JaberSeptember 13, 2018 at 2:21 PM

    I'm not sure if the Narrator is supposed to stand up for himself based on what the Grandfather wants from him. I think his retaliation is supposed to be inside and he is to become an "Invisible Man" in the sense that he does what he is supposed to do with his inside thoughts in complete retaliation and that his retaliation should be so subtle it's almost invisible...(?)

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  5. BetsySeptember 14, 2018 at 8:37 PM

    I think all the characters relate to the same theme of self-discovery and thus parallel each other in what they represent. Bledsoe and Brockway are facets of the same theme, so future characters will probably do the same.

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  6. Ayat JaberSeptember 15, 2018 at 9:25 PM

    Great post! I agree that Ellison is doing a great job in character development. He gives the narrator sort of the same story of meeting a person and getting a letter, yet through each experience the narrator is developing a new consciousness.

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