Chapter 24

     As a reader, I found Chapter 24 particularly disturbing, not only because of its content but by the message that the reader takes away from it. I feel that in this chapter, Ellison only perpetuates two horribly incorrect beliefs. The first, being that black men are violent beings with innate carnal desires to not only objectify and abuse but rape women, specifically white women. The second, being that women not only enjoy but quite literally ask for rape. 

    Similar to his interaction with the woman from The Woman Question, the narrator is desired by Sybil in an animalistic sense. She says to him on page 520, "Look at me like that; just like you want to tear me apart." Throughout he rest of the chapter, Sybil continues to objectify the narrator, calling him "boo'ful" and a "big black bruiser" (522-523). Sybil has a fetishized fantasy of her relations with the narrator because of his race. The narrator feeds into her desire telling her, "You brought out the beast in me. I overpowered you" and that he "rapes real good when I'm drunk" (521, 524). We see in this very odd interaction the confirmation of the absurd idea that black men have an intrinsic desire to dominate white women to extreme ends. 

    The other problematic part of this chapter is Sybil's desire to be raped by the narrator. Sybil says that this incredibly problematic want of hers has been present "even when I was a very little girl" (519). She gets excited when the narrator pours her more and more drinks and tells her how animalistic he is. After the rape has occurred, despite her ability to remember due to her intoxication, Sybil still is quite cheerful and asks the narrator if she "was a good nymphomaniac" (524). Even as the narrator is leaving, Sybil tries to follow him, wanting more. Again we see the perpetuation of an incredibly gross notion. 

    What frustrates me the most in this chapter is the narrator's inability to hold himself responsible and accountable for his actions. He says, "Had all of it filtered down to me? My action...my-the painful word formed as disconnectedly as her wobbly smile-my responsibility? All of it? I'm invisible" (525-526). The narrator uses his invisibility as a scapegoat for his actions. Because Sybil cannot truly see him as he is, it suddenly makes him exempt from any punishment and therefore justifies his reasoning behind raping her. Why does Ellison do all of this? How does this further the novel? We only see Sybil's presence briefly in the following chapter, so why is this event necessary? How did this change (or not change) your opinion of the narrator?

Comments

  1. JanakiOctober 20, 2021 at 5:36 PM

    Hi Sam, I think you did a really good job of talking about an aspect of the book we didn't talk about too much, also because it's one of the sections where we can criticize Ellison. I find it really weird and unnerving that in both of the ...intimate... scenes in the novel, it's basically a black man being dominated by a white woman while she asks him to dominate her (in the second scene, he's the one dominating her). I agree with both your points that Ellison firstly portrays black men (or all men, he doesn't really give us much context outside of the narrator) as sex crazed and being skilled at raping. Sybil's part of the encounter is super weird as well - she's portrayed as one-dimensional and basically a sex object - she wants not only sex but also to be raped, and she finds pleasure in being dominated. Towards the end, I think the narrator connecting this back to the invisibility thing is what made me most uncomfortable - it was super weird to bring that in and while I get that she fantasizes about him being primitive, I don't think it was that relevant to the point. Great job on this post!

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  2. Clara WoodOctober 21, 2021 at 11:33 AM

    Sam, I think this a difficult part of the book to cover, but you very eloquently describe the issues I had with this chapter as well. This part of the novel was very surreal, and I couldn't quite understand it myself when I read it, but what was especially confusing for me was what message Ellison was trying to convey. Sybil's fixation on the narrator dominating her and letting out his "animalistic side" exhibits her objectification and fetishization of harmful stereotypes towards black men. However, Ellison's decision to have the narrator comply with Sybil's wishes is hard for me to understand. From his tone, the narrator doesn't seem to have lost his senses or control, and is just "playing a part," which he feels he can do as an invisible man. And while I understand that point, it's perplexing why this aspect of the narrator's state of mind has to be signified through rape and the objectification of women. Anyway, I haven't quite figured out my thoughts on this chapter, but your post was very well worded and clear to read. Great job!

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  3. anyaktOctober 22, 2021 at 7:12 PM

    I agree with what Clara said above: this part of the book was very difficult to read and process but you did a good job clearly laying out what was so wrong about this scene. I also felt very uncomfortable reading this whole encounter, and it just seemed like another example of male writers so grossly describing how men are inherently inclined to rape women, and not only that, the women desire it. The lack of any regret or awareness by the narrator through this graphic encounter was deeply concerning. It is hard for me to really believe that this scene really is justified by the idea of him being invisible, and it really just acted to color my opinion of the narrator and the author. Good job laying out what is so concerning about this part of the book.

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  4. Olivia ThompsonOctober 22, 2021 at 8:53 PM

    I agree with you that this was a very odd scene and the purpose of it within this book is not really clear. I was happy when the author began involving women characters into his stories and mentioning the women's rights movement because we had just finished Native Son, which mostly showed women as 1-dimensional, however after finishing the book I feel like there was a missed opportunity in Invisible Man. I feel like the "Women Question" was only involved in the plot to prove points about the character and his invisibility, when at this time the women's rights movement was quite important. The author could have used this plot line as a way to draw parallels between the two movements, but instead only showed 1-dimensional white women who didn't actually seem to care for either movements.

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  5. LiliOctober 23, 2021 at 8:09 AM

    Sam, I think you did a great job at dissecting a really difficult part of the book to read. You did a good job of showing how and why it's really wrong. This scene also reflects on lots of things we said in class about how women are often portrayed as sexual objects in both Invisible Man and Native Son. I found it interesting how you raised the point that the narrator uses his invisible trope to justify the rape because she doesn't really see him. I hadn't thought about or noticed that before but I totally agree that it's pretty twisted and used as a form of escape to not hold accountability for his actions. Really great job on this post.

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