Donovan Harris

Invisible Man study guide chapters 1 and 2



Chapter 1
1.Allusion in the first paragraph is used by showing the narrator feels about his grandparents
The narrator feels shame towards his grandparents for being slaves and he feels shame towards himself for being in a position where he can't do anything


2. The narrators grandfather wants him to be acceptive towards racism, however acting rebellious against everyone.

3. The significance of the narrator viewing himself as Booker T. Washington is that was successful African american during that time, and was able to give hope for success through education and industry

4. The narrator describes her as a doll and he a puppet, throughout the book this seems present as Ellison uses these as an image to emphasize powerlessness.

5.  The chapter shows the limits of assimilation


Chapter 2
1.  The white line- he followed the white line while driving the white man (Mr. Norton) around.

2.  The rhetorical purpose was to show truth in philosophy in the statue, which had shown Booker T. Washington lifting a veil off of a kneeling slave.

3.  I found it was rehearsed, sarcastic and somewhat ironic as he is a rich, white millionaire.

4. He uses the allusion of a well-dressed and mannered person, showing he is educated, rich, and probably organized within his own life.

5. Although he is poor and is one of the characters who is just a side, I believe he fears him because the farmer could be someone who still supports slavery and that the narrator should still be in that setting.

6. there was little enthusiasm for his widow, however there was for Trueblood's daughter and how TB had gotten his daughter pregnant.

7. It is foreshadowing because of the incident with Trueblood and that African American's had their own sections that they were forced into so finding a place that had not been abused or unkempt is new.

8. Mr. Norton realizes that Trueblood had done something wrong and found it disrespectful to his daughter.

9. He is blind to what he had done wrong and finds himself innocent in the general situation.

10. That it was praised rather than seen as something wrong.

11. She was going to abort the baby that he had caused.

12. This is because he had 'proven' a negative stereotype that the black community had.

13. It shows that Norton is no different from the other white men who had exploited Trueblood's pain/torture for their own pleasure.