English 121

"Shouldn't there be some way for them to ask us to sing?". This is a quote that I selected and I'm glad we got to discuss in class on Friday 4/15 as I would like to elaborate on it a little bit because I believe that this is still a problem in our society today. This is definately not a historical problem. Although it may not be as prevalent it still exists today. The brotherhood in the Invisible Man, on the surface, works to do away with racial identity. Instead it works to promote the collective conscious of there members instead of the individual. This becomes a problem, though because by identifying themselves as part of a large group they are segregating themselves and will be viewed not on indiviual merit, but by the active perception that other people have towards the brotherhood. So while it seeks to decrease stereotyping, I believe it is making a new one, hence, another way to divide people in our culture based on race. While the brotherhood may suppress the expression of these ideas, they are still boiling under the surface of its members as evidenced by the narrator's confustion/discontent on pages 314. It is unfortunate, but I believe that if this novel was written today the central story would remain intact. Perhaps the only things changed would be the brawl, as I doubt they still take place today, the college, as colleges are integrated, and maybe the race as Arab-Americans have taken the place of African-Americans as the most feared and hated racial minority in the United States.