Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory - Analysis, The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells | The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells - English - Class 12 PDF Download

Liberty Paints

The narrator's first job is in a highly patriotic paint company most famous for its Optic White paint color. Whee-oo! Whee-oo! Symbolism alert! When a novel explicitly about the weird and evil lines drawn in the name of racism mentions white paint, you just know things are about to get crazy symbolic.

In any case, in order to create this pure white, the narrator is instructed to—get this—add ten black drops of toner into each bucket:

"Now measure ten drops into the paint…There, that's it, not too goddam fast. Now. You want no more than ten, and no less."

Slowly, I measured the glistening black drops, seeing them settle upon the surface and become blacker still, spreading suddenly out to the edges. (10.48-10.49)

Could this possibly have anything to do with black/white relations in America? We think so, too.

We think that this paint business demonstrates the necessity of the black contribution to white America —although many people in Invisible Manthink of America as a white man's country, America would not be America without the contributions of black people.

Taking another angle, the name "Liberty Paints" is ironic since it implies freedom for all... which is clearly not the experience of the narrator throughout this entire story.

Vision and Sight

When there's a lot of talk about eyeballs in a book called Invisible Man, you just know something's up with sight. And you're right.

Reverend Barbee gives a crowd-pleasing speech praising the Founder of the college only to later reveal that he is a blind man. Then Brother Jack turns out to have a false left eye. This shows the flawed nature of their visions—Barbee gave a great speech praising an institution and man that are basically shams, and Jack espouses a horribly cold ideology:

"That is your new name," Brother Jack said. "Start thinking of yourself by that name from this moment. Get it down so that even if you are called in the middle of the night you will respond. Very soon you shall be known by it all over the country. You are to answer to no other, understand?" (14.133)

As for the narrator, he comes to believe himself an invisible man because no one actually sees him for who he is—but as someone of whom they can take advantage:

I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.(Prologue.1)

Realizing this social invisibility, the narrator decides to pair it with actualinvisibility, and drops out of sight for an indeterminate amount of time.

Sambo Doll

First things first: what the heck is a Sambo doll? In a word: racism. This little puppet is racism encapsulated. It's a caricature of a black man drawn along the crude and evil lines of mid-century bigotry:

Shake him, shake him, you cannot break him For he's Sambo, the dancing, Sambo, the prancing, Sambo, the entrancing, Sambo Boogie Woogie paper doll. And all for twenty-five cents, the quarter part of a dollar… Ladies and gentlemen, he'll bring you joy, step up and meet him, Sambo the – (20.71-5)

When the narrator further examines the paper doll that Clifton was selling, he realizes that Clifton controlled the doll with a thin black string that was invisible to the audience. Clifton puppeteers the flimsy black doll in much the same way that the Brotherhood manipulated both Clifton and the narrator, or the way the narrator has been manipulated his entire life, or the way black people have been manipulated for white people's entertainment (think of the battle royal, for example).

The Battle Royal Briefcase

If you're anything like us, you hung on to some childhood trinkets for way too long. Maybe it was a "Everyone's A Winner!" tee-ball trophy, or a crown from an elementary school play. And, at some point, you realized that getting your adult life started meant finally throwing away your kiddie nostalgia pieces.

That's pretty much what happens with the battle royal briefcase... except that particular piece of luggage is weighed down with societal expectations and racism as well as youthful innocence.

We think it's symbolic that the narrator receives the briefcase as a naïve kid, and then hangs onto it for the rest of the novel. Emblematic of his past vulnerability, eagerness to please, and youthful ambitions, his final loss of the briefcase suggests a complete severance of ties to his youthful past and a true rebirth.