Throughout the book, the narrator seems to undergo alternating periods of having a solid identity and times where he really doesn't know (or care) who he is or what his purpose is. It's interesting to view these on and off intervals in terms of the amount of freedom he has, or at least he perceives himself to have. Initially, when the narrator is in college, he very much feels like he has goals and a purpose in life: to become well-known and respected, like Bledsoe, through hard work and education. At the same time, his freedom is relatively restricted. For a large portion of his life so far, although he's passionate about what he does and has aspirations, he's essentially on a very set course that's been laid out for him way before he became a part of it.
Once he actually gets a chance to meet Bledsoe for real though, he's dismissed from the college and finds himself making decisions for himself. He acquires a newer sense of freedom than he had before, doing more of what he wanted to do rather than what he felt he should do. He gets this feeling again after his confinement in the paint factory where his sole purpose was to mix paint and assist a crazy old engineer. After his "operation," he talks much more openly to those above him and describes having a newfound sense of freedom, even though he has lost a huge part of his identity and purpose.
This lasts for a while until the narrator is taken up by the Brotherhood, where they impose a brand new identity upon him. Instead of expanding his freedom with this new identity, it actually constrains it a little bit more because even though he's now part of something larger than just himself, he's constantly underneath the Brotherhood's thumb. This constant cycle of identity and invisibility and freedom and confinement is really interesting to look at, and I'm especially interested in seeing how the narrator ends up like he does at the end where he becomes practically invisible with no identity associated with him, but with the power to do almost whatever he wants.
The progress of the narrator's character is definitely really interesting to follow. In the narrator's "cycle of identity and invisibility and freedom and confinement" as you put it, I was continuously reminded of Bigger's stages of new found freedom followed by feeling confined and disillusioned once again and so on until he believes he has finally discovered freedom in the end, under the impression he has realized who he is. I'm curious to see if the narrator will follow a journey parallel to Bigger's path to self-discovery/ "freedom"
ReplyDeleteThe narrator isn't constrained by the brotherhood, no, he is owned by the brotherhood. All he is there to do is give speeches and improve their public presence. I wonder how long the narrator will stay with the brotherhood. He doesn't really seem all that interested in their mission, he just gives speeches for money
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