Invisible Man-Character Analysis

Booker T. Washington is one of the most respected and influential African American figures in American history, Mr. Washington was born into slavery and was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. His peaceful personality along with his exceptional education in many different studies turned him into a well-rounded individual. Washington wanted blacks and whites to become partners and strive for both races to succeed. He delivered his most famous speech in 1895 known as the “Atlanta Compromise”. In Atlanta Georgia, Mr. Washington expresses himself with exceptional rhetoric and tone throughout his speech. He states that African Americans should take benefit of what they know and endeavor

This shows how blacks were seen as expendable or considered a dead man walking. The white men wanted to ensure the other “property” was healthy and that the “dead man” was held accountable ;even at times thrown overboard to prevent contamination. The living conditions didn’t help with the prevention of contamination of others during the White Flux. It was said that “the deck, that is, the floor of their rooms, was so covered with the blood and mucus which had proceeded from them in consequence of the flux, that it resembled a slaughter-house. It is not in the power of the human imagination to picture itself a situation more dreadful or disgusting.” (Document C)

Mr. Hughes who is referred to by the interviewer as Uncle Fountain, talked about the conditions of Slavery for him. He called his master “B.”. His mother and father worked as slaves for this “B.” even though, he did not know

In Document E a seventeen year old Aztec is recounting of a warrior who was sacrificed. “Many of us became attached to this living god, and a terrible sadness, comes over some of the women when, at the end of the year, he is taken to Chalco and dismembered in public view.” It wasn’t actually considered a bad thing to be sacrificed, because you were making sure that everyone that you left behind was going to see another day. The only reason others may have been sad if you were sacrificed was if they were close to you. If sacrifices weren’t as important to the Aztecs, then warrior wouldn’t be sacrificed. However, since sacrifices are so important to the Aztecs they were willing to give some of their fine warriors.

Finally finding some type of pity they let them go to where they were first rounded up to get dressed, and receive the little money they won. Though covered in sweat and blood, the narrator continues to be concerned that he will not be allowed to speak until finally his wish comes true. As he speaks so proudly, the men only seem to ignore him as he quotes his idol Booker T. Washington in his speech until he gets to the phrase “social responsibility.” Drunk they make him repeat it many times until he “accidentally” switches the word “responsibility” for “equality.” At that time the infuriated drunks ask him to explain why he switched the words and he answers with it being a “mistake.” The white men dismiss the action by awarding him with a briefcase and a scholarship for a “nigger” college. Enthusiastically he leaves home and is recognized for his awards, but a nightmare returns to ruin his day where he is at a circus with his grandfather. His grandfather, not at all amused with his surroundings, commands him to open his reward and inside he finds a letter with the statement, “To Whom It May Concern

Two of the most influential people in shaping the social and political agenda of African Americans were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois, both early twentieth century writers. While many of their goals were the same, the two men approached the problems facing African Americans in very different ways. This page is designed to show how these two distinct thinkers and writers shaped one movement, as well as political debate for years afterward.

In some ways, Douglass’ message of the cruelty in slavery is most effectively portrayed through his word choice and language, rather than the actual presentation of evidence. At one point, after witnessing several acts of extreme violence towards slave, and even some murders, Douglass sums up the events with a common phrase among slave holders, “it was worth a half cent to kill a nigger, and a half cent to bury one.” While this may not be an actual fact, it is very logical, and shows why the courts would never convict a white man for murdering a slave. By choosing to use this statement, it shows how well Douglass understands his surrounding, and how corrupt and violent they are. This statement devalues an entire race of people, and that alone speaks to the reader’s heart. The logic of the statement

“A great wave of humiliation and shame swept over me. Shame that I belonged to a race that could be so dealt with; and shame for my country, that it, the great example of democracy to the world, should be the only civilized, if not the only state on earth, where a human being would be burned alive.”(137) Because of that day, the narrator made a decision that he felt was best for him at the time, which was to let the world make their own perception of him. “I argued that to forsake one’s race to better one’s condition was no less worthy an action than to forsake one’s country for the same purpose. I finally made up my mind that I would neither disclaim the black race nor claim the white race; but that I would change my name, raise a mustache, and let the world take me for what it would; that it was not necessary for me to go about with the label of inferiority pasted across my forehead.” (139)

Atlanta Address of 1895. Too many politicians and the public in general, he was seen as a popular spokesman for African-American citizens.

“The Negro, too, for his part, has idols of the tribe to smash. If on the one hand the white man has erred in making the Negro appear to be that which would excuse or extenuate his treatment of him, the Negro, in turn, has too often unnecessarily excused himself because of the way he has been treated. The

The idea of double consciousness, termed by W.E.B. Du Bois, for African Americans deals with the notion that one’s self has duality in being black and American. It is the attempt to reconcile two cultures that make up the identity of black men and women. One can only see through the eyes of another. A veil exists in this idea, where one has limits in how he or she can see or be seen. This individual is invisible to the onlookers of the veil, and those onlookers may be invisible to the individual. This then alters how one can truly interpret their conscious. This concept is one that has been explored in various themes of literature,

“I am black, I am black!” constantly sprinkles Browning’s 1846 narrative, “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point.” The phrase takes aim at American slavery and reminds us that its prisoners “had no claim to love and bliss,” (92) while in servitude. Boldly, the speaker asks us to bear witness to the human leftovers of this system of violence, especially in the case of a female slave at Plymouth Rock. Here, she debates existence, exposes deep emotion wounds, and murders her infant son. The act is done for “liberty,” but we find the mother’s violence difficult to digest. Starting from a point of respect, we suggest that the “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point” really concerns a lack of respect for toward life that not only flaws her judgments

Designate an individual the first aid kit and ensure everyone knows who has the first aid kit.

Society’s systematic dehumanization of slaves claims that their lives are not their own, but rather belong to their oppressors. For instance, Jacobs’s cousin Benjamin decides to escape from his masters who equate him and his people to “dogs, […] foot-balls, cattle, [and] everything that [is] mean” and taunts them by saying, “Let them bring me back. We don’t die but once” (27). By metaphorically comparing slaves to dogs and pieces of property, he reveals how little slave owners care about their charges. Rather than remaining under the control of such oppression, Benjamin decides to live and die on his own terms at the risk of capture and punishment, because

Students should be permitted limited use of mobile phone while attending their schools. Not all students use their mobile or cellular phones while at school; many do. Not all students who use their cell phone in school are using them during class. Students and educational staff come down very hard on students for using cell phones during class session, in many cases, justifiably so. Yet, there are instances when mobile phone use during school is not a distraction or threat to the students' attention and education.