First Hour Discussion Prep: Please come to the discussion on Tuesday and Wednesday with thoughtful discussion notes and text references. This is part of your presentation grade. Please see rubric for further information.

Chapters 2-7

  1. Why did you thinkRalph Ellison decided to make this literary piece of a novel instead of the traditional style of a series of short stories?
  2. Why do you think Ellison decided to shift the setting from the traditionally racist south to New York in the north?
  3. What image of society is Ellison attempting to portray through Invisible Man?
  4. How do you think the story would've changed if Norton meeting Trueblood didn't happen?
  5. There aren't many women in the book, do you think it would make sense and portray the same message had there been a strong female role?
  6. If the vet had remained more of a constant through the book, do you think the Invisible Man would've stayed more true to his identity?

Chapters 8-11

Never rec’d discussion questions from group through my email.

Chapters 12-15

  1. What is Ellison’s intent when he created the Character Mary?
  2. Why did Ellison portray the eviction the way he did?
  3. What was the purpose of the Men’s House in this chapter?
  4. Why did the Narrator break the iron statueand try to get rid of it?
  5. What was Ellison’s intent in the narrator meeting the brotherhood?

Chapters 16-19

  1. What's the point of the black leg shackle?
  2. What does Ras' English add to the text?
  3. What's the point of Chapter 19 at all? What's the meaning behind the woman seducing IM?
  4. Does Brother Jack's hair have any symbolism?
  5. Why is it so hard for IM to find his identity?

Chapters 20-23

  1. How does the Brotherhood control the Invisible Man?
  2. How do you think IM being higher than the procession during the eulogy affects the text?
  3. Why does Ellison create Rinehart, and then get IM confused with him?
  4. What does the image of the dancing Sambo doll suggest?
  5. What view of the lower class does Ellison portray in this chapter?
  6. What does Ellison want us to think about while reading Clifton's eulogy?

Chapters 24-Epilogue

  1. Why does Ellison portray such a narrow viewpoint about the nature of women?
  2. How are "leaders" constructed in this novel? (Leaders = Norton, Bledsoe, Brother Jack, etc)
  3. Why does Ellison decide to have the Narrator intoxicated during the book's ending scenes, including the scene with Sybil and the race riot scene?
  4. What message is Ellison trying to get across in the epilogue, and what has been left out of the epilogue?
  5. Why and how does the author use the Narrator's dreams and illusions, or imaginings, in the book? What are some examples?
  6. Why does the Narrator continually try to go back to Mary's house and the brotherhood meeting places, and what keeps him from ending up there?
  7. In what way does Ellison portray the Narrator's grandfather throughout the novel, and how does it change as the novel ends? Why do you think Ellison did this?