Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Prologue of the Invisible Man

Today, we will begin our new unit by reading the Prologue of the Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.
After reading it once, listen to it here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdGdtRmF6J98eJiv0UfDFYTFRBPk7kKWh
Next, we will answer text dependent questions found here:
Text Dependent Questions—Prologue to The Invisible Man


1.      In what ways are you invisible? List was you are invisible to peers, teachers, people…..
2.      Why does the author need to clarify that he isn’t a spook?
3.      Why might people refuse to see someone?
4.      Why would someone say, “I might even be said to possess a mind?”
5.      What does it mean to be seen?
6.      How might it feel to be “unseen”? List four adjectives that might describe the feeling.
7.      Whose fault is it that the narrator is invisible? Defend your response with a sentences or evidence taken from the text.
8.      What can we infer about the blond man who “still uttered insults though his lips were frothy with blood”?
9.      Explain the irony of the Daily News reporting of the incident.
10.  Why might rates for electricity been so expensive for the narrator?
11.  Describe the invisible man’s “hole.”  What items in or aspects of his hole might be metaphoric and what might they mean?
12.  Why does the narrator label himself “Jack the Bear” and how does this idea of his current existence give significance to the rest of his narrative?
13.  Find as many oxymorons or paradoxes as you can in the prologue.  Consider especially the fact that the Invisible Man needs light, as well as his statement that Broadway and the Empire State Building are “the darkest spots in our culture.”  What is the meaning and/or significance of each paradox that you have identified?  (If you struggle to interpret the individual paradoxes, try to discuss the overall significance of paradox in the prologue.)
14.  What role does paradox in general play in the invisible man’s existence?
15.  Is the invisible man’s mode of existence heroic?  Why or why not?



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