Invisible Man Final Test

All answers to this test should be recorded on a SEPARATE piece of paper. Do

not write your answers on this paper.
Characters: Invisible Man, grandfather, Mr. Norton, Dr. Bledsoe, Jim Trueblood,
Supercargo, the vet, Peter Wheatstraw, young Emerson, Lucius Brockway, Mary Rambo,
Brother Jack, Emma, Tod Clifton, Ras the Exhorter, Brother Tarp, Brother Tobitt, Brother
Hambro, Brother Wrestrum, Huberts wife, Barrelhouse, Sybil, Rinehart, Scofield
Character Identification (2 pts each): match each character to their description. You
will not use every name.
1. sharecropper supported by white community, ostracized by blacks
2. married to a fine, intelligent Negro girl
3. plunges outside of history by selling racist dolls
4. vets attendant at the Golden Day
5. frequently cooks cabbage when money is tight
6. wrote the anonymous letter to the narrator
7. worked on a chain gang for nineteen years
8. is often associated with exotic perfume
9. bartender at the Jolly Dollar
10.
recognized by his dark green glasses and wide hat
Quote Identification (2 pts each): write the name of the character who spoke (or
thought, or wrote) each quote. You will not use every name.
11.
Imaseventhsonofaseventhsonbawnwithacauloverbotheyesandraisedonblackcatbones
highjohntheconquerorandgreasygreens
12. Ha, yes, unspeakables. Im afraid my father considers me one of the unspeakables
Im Huckleberry, you see
13. Thus, while the bearer is no longer a member of our scholastic family, it is highly
important that his severance with the college be executed as painlessly as possible.
14. They got all this machinery, but that aint everything; we the machines inside the
machine.
15. Its you young folks whats going to make the changes. Yalls the ones. You got to
lead and you got to fight and move us all up a little higher.
16. Its three hundred years of black blood to build this white mahns and wahnt be
wiped out in a minute. Blood calls for blood! You remember that.

17. Can I say in twenty minutes what was building twenty-one years and ended in
twenty seconds?
18. We do not shape our policies to the mistaken and infantile notions of the man in the
street. Our job is not to ask them what they think but to tell them!
19. But you were such a strong big brute you made me give in. I didnt want to, did I
now, booful? You forced me gainst m will.
20. My destiny, did you say? Young man, are you well? Which train did you say I should
take?
Multiple Choice (2 pts each): for each question, write the letter that corresponds to
the correct answer.
21. The narrators experience at Liberty Paints suggests that
A. black labor was the foundation for Americas industrial strength
B. whites use blacks to enhance their own superiority
C. American businesses were opposed to unionization
D. the narrator ought to work for a company owned by black people
22. The hospital scene in which the narrator is subject to a variety of
experiments represents
A. his blindness regarding whites control over blacks in the North
B. his figurative death and rebirth
C. the depth of Bledsoes hatred towards the narrator
D. his inability to fight back against those in power
23. The Brotherhood is opposed to the narrators emotional style of speaking
because
A. they are afraid the crowds will get out of control
B. it does not reflect their scientific, rational philosophy
C. it makes the other speakers look bad
D. it reveals the narrators lack of education
24. Ras the Destroyer wants the narrator hanged because
A. the narrator threw a spear through Rass cheeks
B. he accuses the narrator of being responsible for Tod Cliftons death
C. he believes the narrator encouraged the people to riot and destroy Harlem
D. he believes that the narrator is a traitor to black people

25. The identity of Rinehart

A. gives the narrator the opportunity to make major reforms in the Brotherhood
B. allows the narrator to undermine Ras the Exhorter
C. shows the narrator a way to survive in a world of chaos and confusion
D. allows the narrator to become visible at last
26. Dupre and Scofield lead a group of men to burn down the tenement
building because
A. it was the only way they knew how to fight an oppressive system
B. Ras ordered them to destroy the narrators home
C. it was infested with rats and cockroaches, making it a breeding ground for disease
D. the Brotherhood paid men to spread havoc in Harlem
27. The narrator flees into a deserted coal cellar where he
A. plans to work to alleviate racism
B. finds the vet has been living to hide from an unfair society
C. tries to think through the things in his life that got him there
D. plots revenge against Bledsoe, Norton, and the Brotherhood
28. Which of the following is not an item the narrator burns in Chapter 25?
A. high school diploma
B. Cliftons doll
C. the anonymous note
D. Bledsoes letter
29. While the narrator is in the cellar, he dreams that
A. Tod Clifton, Mary Rambo and the vet explain to him the significance of his Southern
heritage
B. he is giving a speech about social responsibility to a crowd full of blind men
C. his grandfather returns to interpret his perplexing advice
D. he is castrated by the white men who have kept him running
30. The decision of the narrator to leave his cave at the end of the novel
symbolizes
A. his failure to learn anything from his experiences
B. the end of contemplation and the beginning of action
C. his compromises in order to survive in life
D. his decision to return to college and try harder to succeed

Short Answer (20 pts each): Answer two of the following questions. Make a claim
and use three specific examples from the text to support each answer. This does not
have to be a long, drawn out answer. Demonstrate your knowledge of the text and your
ability to defend a position.
31. During the party at the Chthonian, Brother Jack states: Its simple; we are working
for a better world for all people. Its that simple. Too many have been dispossessed of
their heritage, and we have banded together in brotherhood so as to do something about
it. What do you think of that? (305). Does the Brotherhoods organization actually
follow their own mission as stated?
32. James Baldwin wrote, To accept one's past - one's history - is not the same things as
drowning in it. An invented past can never be used; it cracks and crumbles under the
pressures of life like clay in a season of drought. The narrator in Invisible Man has
trouble appreciating his past. Why is he so unwilling to embrace his past and how has
the failure to recognize his own history hindered his growth?
33. In a 1955 interview with The Paris Review, Ellison, when asked if Invisible Man would
be around in twenty years, replied, I doubt it. Its not an important novel. I failed of
eloquence and many of the immediate issues are rapidly fading away. If it does last, it
will be simply because there are things going on in its depth that are of more permanent
interest than on its surface. We are reading this novel in 2015. What things are going
on in its depth that have caused this book to remain important?
34. As the narrator ponders his experiences in the Epilogue, he thinks, I was never more
hated than when I tried to be honest On the other hand, Ive never been more loved
and appreciated than when I tried to justify and affirm someones mistaken beliefs
(572-3). Contemplate and give your interpretation of IMs realization. When has he been
hated for his honesty and loved for his false affirmation?
35. The grandfathers advice from Chapter 1 follows the narrator throughout his life. He
says, Live with your head in the lions mouth. I want you to overcome em with yeses,
undermine em with grins, agree em to death and destruction, let em swoller you till
they vomit or bust wide open (16). Thinking about the epilogue and our class discussion
regarding the principle, how does the narrator ultimately interpret his grandfathers
words, and how has that interpretation changed over the course of the novel?