Although this is not at all the most important aspect or "theme" of this book, and we've already talked about this in class, here's something I find interesting. So far, from what we've read of Invisible Man, every bit of it has had a very surreal and dreamlike atmosphere. When doing the readings for this book, I keep finding myself getting lost in this weird, very particular headspace that can only be reached when recalling a vivid dream, or a distant, hazy memory. I get this feeling so intensely that sometimes its feels as though I actually have dreamt the events of this book before (even though I most definitely have not).
Right from the start, the prologue introduces a few circumstances, many of which you would probably never encounter in real life. For example, the narrator has been squatting in an abandoned basement and has lined and installed the walls with 1,368 lightbulbs. Or, the narrator, after beating a man half to death, runs cackling off into the night. I personally find both of these events quite strange, and to me they seem like things that could only be rendered by the deep subconscious.
Weird and disturbing things continue to happen throughout the next couple of chapters. I'm sure I don't need to point these out, but here are a few highlights for emphasis' sake: the narrator, along with others, collects "gold" pieces (they later turn out to be fake) from an electrically charged carpet; there is a man living in the country who got his daughter pregnant, recounts the saga, and gets money from white people; the narrator walks into a bar full of rowdy patients from the local insane asylum who then proceed to brutally attack and literally jump on, hop on pop style (see Dr. Seuss), their drunk attendant named Supercargo, who ends up lying unconscious on the bar as the patients surround him and have a rave. The list goes on.
For me, even the fact that the attendant's name is Supercargo is reminiscent of a dream. All of these events are also somehow disconnected in my mind, because while they all happen within the same universe, they all involve completely different settings and groups or "types" of people, and, arguably, plots. And this is just like how in dreams one thing will sort of morph into another thing, and in the moment it makes complete sense, but when you wake up you realize it totally does not, but you still know the two things are the same... Does that make sense?
Anyways, I don't actually understand the significance of the dreaminess of this book, if there is any significance at all. So if anyone has any thoughts I'm curious to hear them.
Right from the start, the prologue introduces a few circumstances, many of which you would probably never encounter in real life. For example, the narrator has been squatting in an abandoned basement and has lined and installed the walls with 1,368 lightbulbs. Or, the narrator, after beating a man half to death, runs cackling off into the night. I personally find both of these events quite strange, and to me they seem like things that could only be rendered by the deep subconscious.
Weird and disturbing things continue to happen throughout the next couple of chapters. I'm sure I don't need to point these out, but here are a few highlights for emphasis' sake: the narrator, along with others, collects "gold" pieces (they later turn out to be fake) from an electrically charged carpet; there is a man living in the country who got his daughter pregnant, recounts the saga, and gets money from white people; the narrator walks into a bar full of rowdy patients from the local insane asylum who then proceed to brutally attack and literally jump on, hop on pop style (see Dr. Seuss), their drunk attendant named Supercargo, who ends up lying unconscious on the bar as the patients surround him and have a rave. The list goes on.
For me, even the fact that the attendant's name is Supercargo is reminiscent of a dream. All of these events are also somehow disconnected in my mind, because while they all happen within the same universe, they all involve completely different settings and groups or "types" of people, and, arguably, plots. And this is just like how in dreams one thing will sort of morph into another thing, and in the moment it makes complete sense, but when you wake up you realize it totally does not, but you still know the two things are the same... Does that make sense?
Anyways, I don't actually understand the significance of the dreaminess of this book, if there is any significance at all. So if anyone has any thoughts I'm curious to hear them.
Nice post. I wrote about this same idea on my blog, regarding the surreal qualities of the narrative. I tried exploring what the "dreams" meant, and I think I ultimately came to the conclusion that the narrator is toying with his younger self's lack of invisibility, or his blindness. Since it seems like he contrasts his present-day "invisible" self with his younger self who wasn't, I thought that he's using the craziness to help show, in some weird way, how his invisibility developed.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I hadn't even considered how the dreams are connected in any way. I like your idea that each of the chapters presents different groups of people, different personalities. Because if you think about the story like that, then it becomes a story of experience for the narrator. And I still have no idea how the novel will develop, but these experiences might contribute to his invisibility in some way. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out.
I feel like the dream aspect is a consequence of the narrator going back and retelling his story from the beginning. That said, just the thoughts of someone going through all these experiences seems awful, and I do agree that there seems to be some kind of disconnect. While I can't put it together, I'm gonna say this is just the narrator kind of "jump-cutting" through his retelling of life.
ReplyDeleteI like this post a lot!! I think it's really interesting the feelings that Invisible Man have provoked in you, and even though I can't say I've experienced them to the same extent I definitely see where you're coming from. I do wonder though - if the entire book seems like a dream sequence to you, what do the actual dreams within the book (the grandfather dream and also the hallucinations in the prologue) feel like? Is it like one giant meta dream?
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that the idea of the plot being sort of dreamy is an intent of the author. Personally I believe that his brain surgery, or at least procedure, has something to do with it. We have just learned that the Narrator might not be quite as reliable as we think, and even if he is, he might be exaggerating certain scenarios in order to drive home a point that I think he is trying to make throughout the novel. Great post!
ReplyDelete