PatrickMcEvoy-Halston

E N G6 1 5 3 H I S

ProfessorSarahWilson

27 February2006

Matricidein the City: The storyof the invisibleman,the storyof New York

Chapterstwelveto fifteen of TheInvisibleMar*inwhich the invisiblemanmovesaway

from the mother-figureMary to unitehimselfto Jackandthe Brotherhood-might be readas

stagingthe Freudiandramaof the "child" movingawayfrom his mother,at the father's

command.But sincewith Freudthe child prefersto remainunitedto the mother,andsincethe

invisibleman,despitehis claimsto the contrary,clearlydoesnot wantto remainwith Mary, the

dramahereis not really a Freudianone. Whatit is insteadis a dramatizationof the storybehind

modernNew York in the 20s,the decadewhenNew York becameNew York!, for, at least

accordingto Ann Douglas,New Yorkersbelievedthenthat their freedomdependedupon

detachingthemselvesfrom the influenceof the precedingage,an ageof smothering

lordedover by Victorianmatriarchs,andin creatingits counte{part,its counter-a

subservience,

thoroughlyMasculineera.

of New York in the 20s,Douglasargues

In her book,TeruibleHonesty,an examination

that "slayingof the Titaness,the MotherGod of the Victorianera,wasthe mostimportant

instigationof the modernurban era"(252). "Culturalmatricide,"sheargues,"gavefreshaccess

andculturaldiversity,a world the

new world of uninhibitedself-expression
to an adventurous

Titaness'sbulk hadseemeddesignedexpresslyto block" (253). Shesaysshethoughtit peculiar

thatthe modernswould feel the needto slaythe Victorianmatriarch,the Titaness-that is, the

women[who] hadseizedthereinsof nationalculturein mid-andlate-

"[w]hite middle-class

[American]Victorian era" (6)-since the "womenthey criticizedmostsavagelyweredeadand

thatthemodernsimaginedthe Victorian
buriedby the 1920s"(243). But sheconcludes
maftiarchasa Goddess,that is, assomethingimmortalwhich wastoo powerfula presenceto

everbe gottenrid of permanently.

Why they imaginedher assuchmight becomeevidentif we takeJohnWatson's-the

behaviorist,popular20s"child expert,"andmother-hatersupreme-conceptionof the typical

alongsidehis/trermother,seriously.Watsonwantedchildrento spendas
child's experience

little time with theirmothersaspossible.Reason:he believedthatfrom infancyon children

who werefar morea sourceof traumathan

their mothersasmonsftousoppressors
experienced

theywereof nwturance,for, accordingto Watson,o'[m]ostmothers

[. . .] displace[d]their

unsatisfiedsexuallongingsonto6 ,fr.t, childrenunderthe guiseof 'affection."'(43).To buttress

of his attackon the myth of selflessmaternaldevotion,Watson

the rightnessandrighteousness

overthem. The revulsionhe claimedthe

recordedhow infantsreactedto motherswho obsessed

while watchingtheir mothersswann

andwhich he himselfexperienced
childrenexperienced,

againstthem,is akinto therevulsionthe invisiblemanexperiences

overthem,pressthemselves

afterfinding himselfpressedup againsta largewomanin a subwayfrain while on his way to

Harlem-that is, whenhe foundhimself"crushedagainsta hugewomanin blackwho shookher

headandsmiledwhile [he] [. . .] staredwith horrorat alargemolethat aroseout of the oil

whitenessof her skin like a blackmountainsweepingout of rainwetplain" (158).

theirmothers'bodiesin this manner,if their

If mostmodemshadin factexperienced

wereof suchmaternalpressing,smothering,it would explainwhy they felt

earliestexperiences

the needto distancethemselvesso stronglyfrom maternalfigures,andalsowhy they fearedthey

would neverquite getthemout of their systems.But becausethis encounteris onein which

it is not onein whichthe wide bodied

"maternal"pressingoccursby accident,thatis, because

with, her,it is not onewhich containsa hint

his attachmentto, enmeshment
womanencouraged

of why modernsfearedthat unlessthey slewthe Matriarch,they would find themselvesher

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proxy andtool. More thana hint of suchcanhoweverbe foundin the invisibleman'stelling of

his staywith Mary, however.

Justashis first negativeencounterin New York wasactuallyhis beingsandwiched

into New York-after

againstthe largebodiedwomanin the subwaytrain, his secondemergence

he leavesthe factoryhospital-is introducedsothat onceagainit seemsasif he will find himself

maternalmasses.But though
in an uncomfortablesifuationbroughtuponby pressing,grotesque,

his "wild, infanteyes"areconfrontedwith "[t]wo hugewoment. . .] [who] seemedto struggle

with their massivebodiesastheycirme[towardhim], their floweredhipstremblinglike

uncomfortable
flames"(251),theypasshim by withoutincident.He hasn'tescaped
threatening

however,for just afterwards

enmeshment, him from
anotherwidebodiedwoman,Mary, rescues

the streetsandbecomeshis constant,his only companyfor sometime thereafter.Living with

Mary, he finds himselfin the sortof exclusivemother-childdyadthat Watsonrailedagainst.He

himselfaschildishseveraltimeswhile living with Mary,but it is clearin her over

describes

in her presumedintimacy,that sheis meantto be conceivedasa mother-figure-

soliticousness,

the sortof blackmamaostensiblyto be foundeverywherein the South,andthe sortmoderns

past. He says
in their Victorian(read,Bostoncentered)
believedwereto be foundeverywhere

"he hadno friendsanddesirednone"(258);but he clearlydesiressomesortof relief from

Mary's company.His first instinctwasin factto 'oinwardlyreject"(252)her;andliving with her

he would but cannotrepelor reject. He complainsabouther

bringsuponhim experiences

thatwhatbothershim most
andresponsibility"(258),but onesenses
"constanttalk of leadership

is not so muchwhat shewasaskingof him-though this clearlydoesbotherhim-but her

'osilent"
for he is equallydisfurbedby her
herpressing,hermanifestpresence,
constantpressure,

ashe is by her audible"pressure"(259)for him to becomea raceleader.Indeed,he makeshis

staywith Mary seemasif it involvesperpetually'oingesting"her in oneunpleasantway or

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another,for he callsattentionnot only to how agitatedher voicemakeshim feel, but alsoto how

mealshe feelscompelledto eat. (We notethatsheseems

repulsedhe is by the smellycabbage

almostto be foreverfeedinghim-never, clearly,at his bequest.)

Justasmodernsfearedthat the VictorianTitanessinhibitedself-determination,

individualism,the invisiblemanbeginsto complainthathe hado'losthis direction"(258). After

voicingthe complaint,he fleesMary's home,extremelyagitated.Unlike,asI will soonexplore,

his room,the sfreetsoutsideof Mary's homecannotquitebe imaginedaspartof her surround.

Thoughwhenshefirst met the invisiblemanon the streetnearherplace,sheshowedshewas

telling the truth whenshedeclaredthat "everybodykn[ew] [her] t. . .l aroundthis part of

Harlem" (252)by successfullyrecruitingthosewho hadheardof her to help her takethe

invisiblemanto her home,andthoughthe sfieetsof Harlemdo seemhauntedby a presencewho

would claim its sfieets-Ras the Exhorter-who at times,in thathe imagineshimselfas

who hasnot "betray[ed]his own

someonewho is atrue "sonof MamaAfrica" (370),assomeone

mama"(371),thegoodsonwho abidesthemother'swill, the streetsof Harlemarejust as

frequentlymadeto seemasif it is peopledby thosewho would forgetthe pastentirely,who

would forgettheir ancestorsandtheir backwardways. But he actuallyfinds respitefrom his

experienceat homeafterwanderingto a part of Harlemthat is downtown. Downtown,we note,

is delineatedthroughoutthe text asa placewhich, if not quiteopposed,is clearlydifferentiated

from Harlem-it is for instancethe placethe Brotherhoodrelocateshim to oncehis influencein

Harlemhadbecometo strongfor their liking.

He considerstaking in a movie,but whathe actuallytakesin area few yamshe purchases

from a streetvender. In that he makesit seemasif purchasingthe yamsamountsto a declaration

of his intentionto not abandonhis Southernrootsin shame,the purchaseseemsto be act which

moveshim closerto beingthepersonMary desireshe become.But the reasonI think it instead

 5

of her,is thathe construesthe act onehe does

readsmoreasa repudiationthanasan acceptance

in defianceof thosewho would havehim "do only whatwasexpectedof [him]" (266),that is, in

defianceof peoplelike Mary.

After purchasingthe yam,afterexpressinghow suddenlyempoweredandfreehe feels,

what might rightly be construedasa covertdesirefor matricide. Thinking of

he expresses

asif
Bledsoe,of revenginghimselfuponBledsoe,he imaginesBledsoereactingto an accusation

he hadbeenaccused"of rapingan old womanof ninety-nineyears"(265). Whetheror not one

desirefor Mary to be punishedfor her

agreesthat what he is expressinghereis his unconscious

he haswith Mary areof the sort

smothering,stifling attentionto him, the kinds of experiences

that,accordingto Douglas,somemodernsbelievedinevitablyleadto (largelyunconscious)

desiresfor matricide. Shewrites:

her grotesquesolicitude,what the feminist

It is the mother'sinfernaloverattentivenes,

calls 'the threatof castrationimminentin her overwhelming

critic MadelonSprengnether

love,' her convictionthather child cannotlive in the world without her guidanceand

pity, her self-serving,self-sanctifiedeflortsto keepher child out of what SidneyHoward

adversity
place[s],'whereyourg peopletakerisksandexperience
called'thedangerous

andpain,ffid perhaps,grow up-it is all this that drivesmento matricide,Wertham,[a

modernNew York psychiatristlimplies. 246.

Mary hascertainlybeenthis sortof a mother-figureto the invisibleman,almostto the letter. But

if shouldof courseseemdebatablewhetheror not he is hereairinghis own desirefor matricide,

to be
for thoughtsof mafiicide,thoughthey mustin someway surface,aresupposed

suppressed-thesuperegocannotpermitthereovertexpression:suchprevention,is accordingto

some,the superego'sprimaryfunction.(Douglasarguesthat thoughthe desirefor mafricide

movedthe modernage,it wasan erain which the desirefor matricidewas alwayscovertly

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Of course,if he inventedthe next eventhe participatesin, therewould be no debate

expressed.)

asto whetheror not he was indulgingin thoughtsof maticide: but clearlyhis stumblingupon

the evictionof an eight-nineyearold womanontothe streetsis RalphEllison'sresponsibility,

not his own. However,thoughhe saysthat he felt shamein being"witness"to somethinghe

"did not wish to see"(270),he doesadmitthatthe eviction"fascinated"(270)him. And though

what washappeningto her to what might

he didn't inventthis incident,he doeswork to associate

possiblyhappento Mary-that is, he identifiesherfirst as'omotherly-looking"

(267),identifies

to his own mother,andfinally-though later,afterhe

her as"somebody'smother,"subsequently

hasmet Jack-to Mary.

He actsto assistthe old woman. And we notethat his actiononceagainlooksto be

which showshim developinginto the personMary wantshim to be: Justaswastrue with the

eatingof the yams,the oral performancelinks him to Southernways. But becausehe hadjust

with heras"exceedinglyinitating," asit involvedconstantlylistening

describedhis experience

to her preaching,his ability to speakandhaveothersattendto him outsideof her homealso

with her. Moreover,becauseso

worksto counterandrepudiateuncomfortablepastexperiences

who approved
soonafterwardshe findshimselfin Jack'scompany,thatis, alongsidesomeone

of his actionbut who wantshim to repudiatehis past,to repudiateMary, it is an actionwhich by

identifyhim with Mary's desiresandinterests.

itself doesnot necessary
ooA
Jackis the onewho is responsiblefor construingthe evictionof the old womanas

for the invisible

Deathon the City pavements"(290): he is the onewho is ostensiblyresponsible

manimaginingMary "beinggroundto bits by New York" (295). Thatis, the blame'son him-

andthis is how modernswould haveit too. For therebyhe is madeto seemthe sortof ruthless

but alsoformidablefather-figurethey hopedwould help definetheir era,help distinguishit from

helpthemslaythe VictorianTitaness.Douglaswrites:
their Victorianpredecessors,
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Reallyto kill sucha god,to finish her off for goodandall, the modernsneededanother

god;to freethemselvesfrom the devouring,engulfingmothergod,a savageand

masculinegod wasrequired,andfor this purposethey reinstatedthe punitivegod of their

Calvinistforebears,a god operatingby inscrutableandmalignlawsandrecastin the

imageof Calvin'sheir Freud.243

Douglasgoeson to suggestthat whatthe modernsmostliked aboutFreudwashis emphasison,

his normalizationof,masculinepower. Shewrites,"[w]hat is apparentlyat issuein Totemand

Taboof-a book sheincidentallyidentifiesas"offer[ing] the tale of the murderedfatherasa

themurderof themother"(230)--l t. . .l is male

front behindwhich Freudcanaccomplish

andmaleretribution"(23I ). It is a book which

authorityandmaleconflict,maleftansgression

"furthersmasculineculturalhegemonyby hypothesizingthe originsof history andreligion in an

oMenWithout
altogetherpatriarchalstory,a world of, to borrowa title from Hemingw?y,

Jackcanvery easilybe imagined,especially

Women'" (231). As I beganthis papersuggesting,

at this point of the text, asa Freudianfather. Thoughhe is obviouslynot intenton keepingMary
ooallto himself," he is evidentlyanotherparentalfigure who would takehim underhis wing and

whosenearfirst o'command"
is thathe leaveher behindhim. (Note: OtherthanMr. Nort

the only genteel,femininemanin the text, who, interestingly,is from Boston-home of men

ruledby Victorianmahiarchs-the text is repletewith formidable,mercilessmenthe invisible

manhasto andseemsto enjoy contendingwith, makingit seema text asintenton constituting

Totem
thepatriarchalstoryas Totemand Tabooostensiblyis. Intentional?:Ellisonassociates

thereforewith Bledsoe'sbetrayalof him.)

and Taboowith Mr. Emersonnand

Jackandthe Brotherhoodaremadeto seemunwaveringlydeterminedthat he detach

himself from Mary. He now airsfew complaintsabouther,andinsteadconveyshis regretthat

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he would,alas,haveto shedher. But he doesvoiceonemorecomplaint:Comparinghis stay

with Mary to his initial involvementwith the Brotherhood,he says:

[T]herearemanythingsaboutpeoplelike Mary thatI dislike. For onething,they seldom

know wheretheir personalitiesendandyoursbegins;theyusuallythink in termsof "we"

while I havealwaystendedto think in termssf 661ns"-andthat hascausedsomefriction,

evenwith my own family. BrotherJackandthe otherstalkedin termsof 'owe,"but it was

a different,biggero'we."316

The Brotherhood,thougha communistorganization,is in its ethos,its manners,sffongly

reminiscentof New York in the capitalist20s. As wastrue of New York then,the Brotherhood

is unsentimentallyahistorical:Jack,presentingwhat seemsto be the Brotherhood'sview of

thatpeoplesuchasMary-hangers on-not just be left

things,saysthat historynecessitates

of the new andrelevant.

behind,but be prunedawaysothatthey don't impedethe emergence

TheBrotherhoodspeaksin precise,"scientific"language-it preferscleardelineation,crispness,

to soft feminineblending,and,accordingto Douglas,"the primaryethosof all the urban

modernswasaccuracy,precision,andperfectpitch andtiming" (8). Justasit believeswords

oughtto be distinctfrom oneanother,just asit clearlydifferentiatesthe "woman'squestion"

from othersit dealswith, just asit would havethe invisiblemannot confusethe "classstruggle

with the assstruggle"(418),it desiresandensuresthat eachof its individualmembershavea

clearlydefined,differentiatedandsecurespacein which to exist.

It offersthe invisiblemana roomwhichprovessecure,private. His new roomis

spaciousbut not grand,the landladypolite but business-like.He exultsin the space,andalso

delineatesit, makesclaim to it, identifieswith it, in a way he choosesnot do with his room at

Mary's. His staywith Mary wasneveraboutmakingclaim to a space:it wasinsteadabout

resistingbeingtoo involvedin her own-the reasonbehindhis choicenot to askmuchabouther

 9

own affairs. His new aparhnentis alsoneversceneto invasion,andin this it is differenthis

roomat Mary's. (His office is vulnerableto "invasions"--but

we notethatwhenotherbrothers

repellingthemfrom it.) We sensejust how

invadehis spacehe takespleasurein successfully

muchhis room at Mary's is reallynot somuchftisroombut ratherpartof Mary's home,part of

Mary, the last day andnight he spendsthere. He documentsthe experiencesothat Mary's home

seemsto be all aboutinvasion,permeability,filth andshame-that is, assomethingto be left

behindin greaturgency!Noiseentershis room,but sotoo,nearly,doesMary. Shehasherhand

on his room'sdoorknobandunlesshe is unclothed,sheis preparedto enter,to discoverhim in

an ostensiblyshamefulact. The breakingof the bankis worth attendingto, for againit

justhowmuch Mary seemsto inhibithim. His reactionis of worriment;he fears

dramatizes

whathappened;
Mary might misconceive how he will beperceived.Yet
he fearsembarrassment,

with his disregardfor how otherssaw

on the street,"breaking"(263)the yam wasassociated

him. (It is alsolegitimateto considerthe breakingthe banka sortof displacedmatricide:the

bankis of a rotundfigure whosesolerole is to put its handto its mouthandingestcoins-it

seemsto well symbolizeMary'sneediness his life with her.) He can

and/orhow he experienced

breakthe bank,but he cannotmakea cleanbreakfrom her: their familiarity with oneanother,

their casual,familiar discoruse,even,inhibitshim from effectingan uncomplicated"I'm your

tenant,you're my landlord"departure,that is, from beingakin to the police officer whose

evictionof the old lady wasjust abouthim doinghisjob. He aimsto pay herbackin full, to

owe nothingmoreto her,but shemanagesto makeof the onehundreddollar bill-a bill whose

crispnessandlargedenominationmakeit seemsomehowa charmempoweredto ward off

"simple" folk like Mary-another claim uponhim: shewill now havethe resourcesto takehim

with
backwheneverhe feelsthe needto do so.Again, sinceher homeis at the time associated

oily coffee,cabbagesmells,bodily invasion,powerlessness

swarmingcockroaches, and
 t0

"homewill alwaysbetherefor you," amountsto quitethe curse:it comescloseto

ineptness,

amountingto an invitationto onceagainbeingpressedagainstthe oily, moley subwaywoman

InASS.

Fortunately, the Brotherhood is behind him, and will not seehim ere. They are the ones

who chosehis aparfinent for him; they are the ones who evict him from Harlem when he is

becoming too familiar to the people there; they are oneswho rescuehim when he finds himself

confusingthe 'oassfor the classstruggle,"that is, when he makesa mush of his handling of the

"woman's question." And the invisible man makesclear that the Brotherhoodwill always be

there too-though he leavesthem, they are at the end of his account charactefizedas being in

chargeof things.

Once he departsfrom her home, his subsequentlife showsthat the Brotherhood helped

him effect a relatively securebreak from Mary, and he never doesreturn to her (though a hole in

ground is be thanked for this, as much as the Brotherhood). The grotesquelast experiencewith

her is fortuitous in that, becausethe experienceso readily encapsulatedas grotesgu€,it is made

to seemsomething which can be counteredin total simply by coating himself with the brand

spankingnew. The delight he takesin purchasingnew clothes,somethinghe doesat leasttwice

in the text, also likens him to moderns,for they were all about the new, they were all about

leaving the "soiled" or at least shamefulpast behindthem. They liked to believe they were

living in a time of momentum, in which experiencesdid not accumulate,build upon one another,

but were instead incommensuratewith one another-what was true "theno" could not true "now."

New clothes identified one as belonging to the moment, rather than to the past.

The past does prove to linger though, for the Invisible Man was written in the forties and

yet I believe it can be seenas very much akin to works written in the 20s. The ethosof 20s New
 1t

York more than lingen today. Contemporaryfilms suchas You'veGot Mail dramatizeNew

York as a city which casuallyruins matiarchal claims.

WorksCited

Douglas,Ann. TerribleHonestyi mongrelManhattanin the 1920s.New York: Fanar,Straus

andGiroru<,1995.

Ellison, Ralph. TheIrwisibleMan New York: Vint4ge,1995.