Vision Motifs

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Vision Motifs
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• The visions of the Invisible Man and
  surrounding characters are displayed through
  eyes, impaired vision, veils blindfolds, and
  other symbols. Vision is an integral motif in
  Invisible Man.

3
Eyes

• Eyes are referred to throughout Invisible Man.
• Many different kinds of eyes are used throughout
  the novel in describing IMs experiences.

4

• The moon is referred to as a white mans
  bloodshot eye(110).
• People are always watching you . . . waiting for
  a wrong move(165).
• Studying me with his penetrating eyes the
  others...looking out of eyes that were meant to
  reveal nothing and to stir profound uncertainty
  (462).

5

• The face of that clock . . . hid a pair of
  searching eyes(165).
• The man looked at me out of a bright third eye
  that glowed out of his forehead(231).
• IM feels as though he is being watched in
  everything he does. These eyes symbolize how
  self-conscious he is about his appearance and
  actions.

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Invisibility

• That invisibility to which I refer occurs
  because of a peculiar disposition of the eyes of
  those with whom I come into contact. A matter of
  construction of their

inner eyes, those eyes with which they look
through their physical eyes upon reality(3).
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• In those pre-invisible days I visualized myself
  as a potential Booker T. Washington(18).
• Id make them see invisibility felt if not seen,
  and theyd learn that it could be as polluting as
  a decaying body(509).

8

• Time ran fluid, invisible, sad(532).
• Well, I was and yet I was invisible, that was
  the fundamental contradiction. I was and yet I
  was unseen(507).
• Visions of invisibility display the black
  communitys feelings of unimportance.

9
Impaired Vision

• The vision of both IM and those around him is
  impaired in different ways to symbolize the
  unawareness of racism toward the black community.

10

• But now I felt a sudden fit of blind terror. I
  was unused to darkness(21).
• I crossed a bridge in the fog...(196).
• There is no point in blinding yourself to the
  truth. Dont blind yourself...(192).

11

• My eyes were out of focus...covering one eye
  with my hand to avoid crashing into trees(146).
• Between the gesture and the opaque glitter of
  his glasses, I saw the blinking of sightless
  eyes(133).

12

• They think were blind...theyve dispossessed us
  each of one eye from the day were born (343).
• You know, if we arent careful, theyll slip up
  on our blind sides and--plop! out goes our last
  good eye and were blind as bats!(343).

13

• She said, looking at me out of one bleary eye,
  Georgies blind sa mole in a hole doesnt know
  a thing about it(524).
• They were blind, bat blind, moving only by the
  echoed sounds of their voices. And because they
  were blind they would destroy themselves and Id
  help them(508).

14

• Impaired vision is used in the novel to symbolize
  that IM is very naive to the ways of the world,
  and unable to see it truly. As the novel
  progresses, references to impaired vision are not
  used as often, showing that he is gradually
  opening his eyes to the world around him.

15
Veils Blindfolds

• The cold Father symbol, his hands outstretched
  in the breathtaking gesture of lifting a veil
  that flutters in hard metallic folds above the
  face of a kneeling slave and I am standing
  puzzled, unable to
• decide whether the veil is really being lifted,
  or lowered more firmly in place whether I am
  witnessing a revelation or more efficient
  blinding.(36).

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• decide whether the veil is really being lifted,
  or lowered more firmly in place whether I am
  witnessing a revelation or more efficient
  blinding.(36).
• I looked up to see two agitated physicians and
  a nurse, and thought, Its too late now, and lay
  in a veil of sweat watching them manipulate the
  controls(243).

17

• The Founder looked down at me remotely, benign,
  sad, and in that hot instant, profoundly
  disillusioned. Then a veil seemed to fall(103).
• There was nothing
• to do but what we
• were told. All ten
• of us climbed

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• under the ropes and allowed ourselves to be
  blindfolded with broad bands of white cloth(21).
• Below, they were waiting, hands and
  handkerchiefs shading their eyes(459).
• Veils and blindfolds are used to symbolize the
  characters being partially blinded to the truths
  of the novel.

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Perception

• IM uses visions to convey his perceptions of the
  world.
• The crowd was still standing, looking on as we
  carried Tod Clifton away. And as I took one last
  look I saw not a crowd but the set faces of
  individual men and women(459).

20

• Clifton had chosen to plunge out of history and,
  except for the picture it made in my minds eye,
  only the plunge was recorded, and that was the
  only important thing(447).
• Why should I worry over bureaucrats, blind
  men?(258).

21

• It was some kind of toy, and I glanced at the
  crowds fascinated eyes and down again, seeing it
  clearly this time. Id seen nothing like it
  before(431).

22

• It was as though Id learned suddenly to look
  around corners images of past humiliations
  flicker through my head and I saw that they were
  more than separate experiences. They were me
  they defined me(508).

23

• The vision motif is important in Invisible Man
  to give the reader a way of understanding the
  IMs thoughts and feelings.