(Sorry the title isn't clever...) Ok. So i couldn't help but notice that there were a lot of ties back to the beginning (some boomeranging, if you will) when Invisible Man is giving his speech for the socialists. The most interesting to me was the fact that the story kept going back to the lights being in his eyes, etc. Obviously, anytime eyes and light are mentioned, the reader needs to start paying closer attention to what he or she is reading.
Like Linnie (I really hope that that is spelled correctly...) I am completely fascinated by the light thing. I, too, was still hazy on its significance the first time I read it so I am really trying to pay closer attention anytime that the lights are mentioned. on page 341 he says, "The light was so strong that i could no longer see the audience, the bowl of human faces. It was as though a semi-transparent curtain had dropped between us, but through which they could see me..."
I wonder if this doesn't have something to do with why he has so many lights in his little cave. The light allows him to be seen. He is making his presence known: even if he is not seen by the public, he knows that he can be seen because he retreats everyday into the light.
Also, the light allows him to remind the world that he exists.
Also, another thing that is boomeranging is the "white lines" (p.343) idea. he ways that they are blind "So now we can only see in straight white lines." In the beginning, when he is driving Mr. Norton, the white lines play a very significant role; before he is in trouble (or when he is paying attention) he strictly follows the white lines or lets them guide him. However, when he is shaky, the white lines are blurred. I think the white lines are pretty clearly standing for the white people who have any power in general...
Anyways, I hope that this makes sense. It's just an idea. There is a lot more to it but unfortunately the idea was formed a few hours before this blog, so... some of it has been forgotten!
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I am also really interested in the light! Obviously it’s a huge theme but it is so fascinating because it represents so many different things, power, skin color, intelligence. In the prologue he is taking away power from society, from the “Man,” the big companies. But what is so interesting is watching him get to this point. He is reborn through that hospital in light and electricity, then he is blinded by light (perhaps his own intelligence?) when he is making the speech, the red light that illuminates Ras when he almost stabs Clifton seems to show the dark side of their operation, the red of desire and anger that is backlash of the white oppression. I just hope we get to talk about light more because it is so cool in what it shows and represents!
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