Archetypes in Chapters 3–5 of Invisible Man

1. Archetypes in Chapters 3–5 of Invisible Man

2. Mr. Norton • General Pershing (72) • Thomas Jefferson (77) • John D. Rockefeller; the Messiah (78) • The Creator (79) • A formless white death (86) • Great white father; lyncher of souls (93) • White-suited St. Nicholas (107)

3. The Vet (The Wise Man) • Of the narrator: “ ‘Behold! a walking zombie! Already he’s learned to repress not only his emotions but his humanity. He’s invisible, a walking personification of the Negative, the most perfect achievement of your dreams, sir! The mechanical man!’ ” (94). • To Norton: “ ‘To you he is a mark on the scorecard of your achievement, a thing and not a man; a child, or even less—a black amorphous thing. And you, for all your power, are not a man to him, but a God, a force—’ ”(95).

4. Dr. Bledsoe (The Shape Shifter) • “Just inside the building I got another shock. As we approached a mirror Dr. Bledsoe stopped and composed his angry face like a sculptor, making it a bland mask...” (102). • To Norton: “ ‘Don’t be kind, sir,’ Dr. Bledsoe said. ‘You can’t be soft with these people’ ” (104). • Of Bledsoe’s suit: “[Y]et for all its elegance, he managed to make himself look humble” (114). • “He was our coal-black daddy of whom we were afraid” (116).

5. Architectonic Elements • VEILS • of the mind: pg. 103 & pg. 135 • MOCKERY • mockingbird on pg. 134 • Bledsoe on pg. 138

6. Architectonic Elements • A SPOT OF BLACK IN WHITE • Dr. Bledsoe on pp. 142-3: “ ‘This is a power set-up, son, and I’m at the controls.’ ”