The Brotherhoods in the Invisible Man

The word brotherhood is evident in the novel when Dally saved Johnny from the burning church. According to the text, “‘We think the towheaded kid is going to be all right. He burned one arm pretty

The character of Brother Jack has a very cynical view of black leadership. He believes that leaders are made, not born, and that they are eventually destroyed by the people who created them (McSweeny). This view of the nonspontaneous generation of black leaders might, however, be challenged by the moment in the race-riot in chapter 25 when Dupre and Scofield organize their neighbors and take effective action (McSweeny).

The AFL was not a labor organization, but a federation of affiliated labor unions. (Dubofsky & Foster, 2004, p. 138). The AFL was exclusive, accepting skilled workers in crafts industries and skilled workers in industry. The AFL's goals were economic, they provided financial and political support for affiliated labor unions in contract negotiations with employers. (Dubofsky & Foster, 2004, p. 139). The political objectives they did pursue usually had to do with the nature of labor negotiations.

The worth of family was repeated throughout Invisible Man. As IM went through his journey, he came across a variety of families both black and white that all valued their families. In almost every situation the family came before their own safety or wellbeing. During the time period African Americans were isolated and segregated from society. Their community and families were all they had to live for. Actions were fully influenced by the need to provide for their own family. Invisible Man in particular shows this when he comes home with the scholarship in the beginning of the book (Emerson 32). The whole purpose of taking the scholarship was to be the first of his family to receive a full education and become a financial provider for his family.

Because of this, the Colored National Labor Union was created by blacks themselves but the differences did not allow them to work together. The National Labor union strongly advocated for eight hour workdays. Another union called the Knights of Labor emerged that first began as a secret society. Their purpose was to include all workers in “one big union.” They allowed everyone: blacks, whites, men, women, the skilled and unskilled. Terence V. Powderly led this union to win several strikes for an eight- hour day. Unfortunately, the Knights of Labor were involved in a violent protest called Haymarket Square. They were mistaken to be associated with anarchists and this brought them to their downfall. Finally, a successful union shows up called the American Federation of Labor (AFL), founded by Samuel Gompers, which only allowed skilled workers. In the end, usually the management won with the strikers having little improvement.

The American Federation of Labor was an association of trade unions starting 1886, rising out of an earlier Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions founded in 1881. The AFL's president, Samuel Gompers, was convinced that unions open to workers of all types of skills within a given industry,called industrial unions,were too undisciplined to withstand the tactics that both government and management had used to break American unions in the past. The answer, was craft unions, each limited to the skilled workers in a single trade. According to Gompers's "pure and simple unionism," labor should not waste its energies fighting capitalism; I ts sole task was to hammer

The AFL (American Federation of Labor) and the Knights of Labor were two major labor unions. Both of these unions were established to represent those (workers) who had been treated unfairly for many years. Scrutinizing the American Federation of Labor, we can see that they were a union who solely represented experienced workers. Although the AFL focused on the fundamental issues that impacted these workers, they avoided dealing with major social issues. Not only did the American Federation of Labor want to utilize collective bargaining to settle contracts, but they wanted unions to be accredited by businesses as the sole representatives for workers in their companies. On the other hand, the Knights of Labor, unlike the American Federation

The Greek communities that have risen across the country have created huge impacts on every university that they have established themselves on. Historically, fraternities were designed for students to discreetly meet to discuss issues and host debates that their members believed would be deemed inappropriate by their collegiate faculties. Since their founding, fraternities and sororities have completely revamped their focuses. They are used as social, professional, and honorary organizations that promote many different combinations of community service, leadership, and academic success. The ideas of brotherhood and sisterhood have also transcended the college experience,

Followed directly on the heels of the National Labor Union was the Knights of Labor, founded in 1869, and the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in 1881. The Knights was an “all-embracing organization” whose membership included the “skilled or unskilled, black or white, male or female” (Miller). But inclusion of unskilled

essential to the reading of the narrator’s struggle with his own identity and how the black

He is forced to fight at this “battle royale” as he calls it, and with a mouthful of blood delivers his speech. As he is coughing on his own blood, he accidentally switches the words “social responsibility” with “social equality,” infuriating the white men there. He hastily insists it was a mistake, and after all of that, he receives a scholarship to go to a black college. He rushes home so proud, and stands in front of his grandfather’s portrait, feeling triumphant (Ellison, 30-33). He followed his grandfather’s advice of doing as he was told, but at that point has yet to realizes why that makes him a traitor. As he is faced with more challenges and more racism the narrator begins to understand why simply doing what is wanted of him to get ahead is traitorous. At his college, the President is a black man named Dr. Bledsoe. This man has used servility to get ahead in life, and when faced with the narrator, rather than attempting to help another black man succeed, he purposely squanders his chances of success. At this point, the narrator begins to understand what it means to be a traitor to your race. After being sent away from school and sabotaged by Dr. Bledsoe, his perspective on people, racism, and his own identity begins to shift.

The first black character holding considerable influence introduced in the novel is the president of the narrator’s college, Dr. Bledsoe, who defines power as manipulating influential white men to achieve wealth. The narrator clearly admires Dr. Bledsoe’s position as “the possessor of not one, but two Cadillacs” and “influential with wealthy men” (Ellison 101). This description expresses Bledsoe’s preoccupation with wealth and material gain, but it also shows how Bledsoe has managed to achieve at least some semblance of power in a society that is stacked against him. The narrator admires Bledsoe for this accomplishment and, for the first part of the novel, models his own actions after those of Dr. Bledsoe. It is later uncovered, however, through the revelation that his letters of recommendation for the narrator are actually pointless letters of expulsion leading the narrator in circles, that Bledsoe uses his position only to further his own self-interest with no regard for how his actions affect the young black men who look up to him (191). This revelation exemplifies Bledsoe’s twisted definition of power and means of obtaining it; he appeases white men and takes advantage of the black community for his own gain, however insubstantial. Ellison himself revealed that, while writing Invisible

A person's identity is never the same, in comparison to the many people that view that person. This is something that the narrator recognizes but does not fully understand. While at the University, the narrator was only a petty "black educated fool" in the eyes of Dr. Bledsoe. At the same time, Mr. Norton (a white trustee of the university) saw the narrator as being an object, who along with his "people, were somehow closely connected with [his (Mr. Norton's)] destiny." (Ellison 41) To the members of the Brotherhood, the narrator is only what they have designed him to be: someone who "was not hired to think," but to speak only when ordered to do so by the committee who "makes [his] decisions."

Ellison uses Brother Jack, the leader of the Brotherhood, to reveal realistic situations in the life of an African American and the victims that come about with an African American’s lifestyle during the time this novel was actually published. At the beginning of the story, Jack seems to be a very caring, generous, and honorable person. He gives away his job, along with money and many other things in order to help his fellow African American people. But, as the story evolves it becomes known that the narrator and most of the other African Americans are all unseen or “invisible” to Brother Jack. Jack uses the narrator as a tool in order to advance some of the Brotherhood’s goals. The Brotherhood soon figures out that Jack has the same outlook on the African American race as the majority of the Caucasian American society. Ellison uses Brother Jack to symbolize how poorly African Americans were treated during the 1930s and 40s. Brother Jack has the characteristics if a flat character.

Furthermore, the narrator appears invisible to others and to himself during his time as a member of the Brotherhood, an organization that appears in the novel as a euphemism to the Communist Party in real life. The narrator joins the Brotherhood in the hopes of creating an identity for himself within the organization by acquiring recognition as a prestigious black leader. He is under the assumption that the Brotherhood recognizes his ideas, his individuality, and soon becomes dedicated and loyal to their cause. However, the narrator does not discover the Brotherhood’s true intentions until after Brother Clifton’s funeral. The Brotherhood turns against the narrator for his belligerent speech at the funeral that they fear would destroy their reputation. The narrator retaliates by accusing the Brotherhood of being “the great white father” of Harlem. The “naked and old and rotten” truth comes out when the committee tells him he was hired to talk, not to think. The narrator later learns how committed the Brotherhood is to their cause with the discovery of