So about this whole 200 page reading……

First of all, it is a miracle that I was able to read all of this… 5 straight hours at the Muddy Cup and a cup of coffee every hour. If I get an ulcer I am so going to blame this class Anywho….

I am officially uninterested in this book anymore. I don’t care about some Brotherhood that is about equality. Everybody belongs to something, do I need to read 200 pages about it?? But here is what I picked up on… I won’t bother you with a summary about the book because, we all read the same thing, I will just give you my opinion because I know you want to hear it

Chapter 11–> The idea of being alone kept rearing its ugly head. This book makes me feel alone and that’s hard to do because I am all about being independent, but seriously I am getting depressed. “I seemed to exist in some other dimension, utterly alone,” “A terrible sense of loneliness came over me.” So Ellison, I am going out on a limb here, but does the narrator feel alone?? Page 240 after he is asked who are you… that whole paragraph reminded me of the grandfather. After he became the traitor, fought in the war and whatnot.. he forgets his name, loses himself. interesting!! Ellison keeps bringing us back to white… everything is white… in this chapter we have white mist pg 241 and white overalls pg 244. On pg 243 the battle royal pops up again when he talks about how he is afraid the machine will electrocute him. On page 249 the paint is brought up again. Why does Ellison keep bringing us back to the same metaphors and symbolism? I am still not sure about the point he is trying to make.

Chapter 12–>Here we go with more white pg 251 a spoiled cream complexion (remind anyone of the grayish paint scene?) pg 253 “white as a sheet.” In this chapter the writing style shifts, just like the narrators personality, I am not sure what is up with the italics, I guess I am missing this part. On page 255 I could not help but be brought back yet again to the grandfathers speech when… “you got to lead and you got to fight” like in a war?? and “don’t get corrupted,” like a spy or a traitor might?? and again on 257 “in losing my place in Bledsoes world I had betrayed them,” definition of what a traitor does if I am not mistaken.

Chapter 13–> White again: pg 262 “whiter complexion,” pg 273 “her hands white and raw… and her gray head” and pg 294 “and like a black-face comedian shrinking from a ghost when the white pigeons shot up around me.”  We are brought back to the image of the statue on page 262 when the snowflakes are forming a veil and “stripping it aside.” On page 266 the narrator begins to become himself again. On page 273 the image of the statue is seen again with the veil that was threatened to be lifted.

chapter 14–>with the stinking white again: pg 299 “And there was also the reservoir of dark water, all covered by snow and by night, by snowfall and by nightfall, buried beneath black and white, gray mist and gray silence.” This quote is interesting because it is exactly what the paint stood for, except with water and snow. We have the image of dark water, covered with a light snow powder and then with the night still there mix them together and you get a hybrid of gray. pg 314 “her little white glove.” On page 301 the narrator shows us for the first time that he is acknowledging his invisibility in a setting, besides the prologue I think this is the first time he says it “It was as though they hadn’t seen me, as though I were here, and yet not here.” On page 315 the narrator says “white folk seemed to always expect you to know those things which they’d done everything they could think of to prevent you from knowing.” Isn’t this pretty much the same thing Bledsoe said to him??

Chapter 15–>did i mention the white thing yet: pg 318 “I saw gray marks appearing where the old skin was flaking away beneath my digging nails.” ewww  I thought this was a rather significant quote “I struck pieces of silver from the pipe, exposing the black and rusted iron.” well lets think about that, silver is close to white right?? well ever since he left the hospital and decided to join the brotherhood… isn’t he chipping away at the nod your head and smile attitude to appease white people attitude he once had and exposing the real him?? I think so

chapter 16–> you know what I am going to say white theme: pg 337 “three white men and three black men,” pg 338 “two very black Negros and two white men..” pg 343 “so now we can only see in straight white lines.” Page 335 we see a common theme found in the past books we have read, obsession with the past.  On page 353 I think we see a milestone when the narrator admits that “for I was someone new.”

Chapter 17–> so that whole white thing: pg 358 “the pink and white image of a girl..” pg 363 “white offspring of house children and the black offspring of yard children bear names..” pg 365 “white meat of roasted chicken.” OK… lets chat… on page 360 when the discipline of the brotherhood is being explained I was brought back to his college days.  The brotherhood is his substitute for college, at least I think so, the only difference, he is studying the brotherhood. Then this chapter has all the stuff about Ras who has the whole messed up attitude, that kind of peeved me off a  little bit. When I read this chapter and saw the random placement of italics I felt like he was trying to convince himself.  On page 372 the narrator consciously bring us back to the past when he talks about how he remembers the battle royal, I think this is another milestone. Want to know waht really upset me though, on page 373, on top of saying (pardon me) nigger all the time, lets throw the word cunt in there… I DON’T THINK SO ELLISON… Amanda is not pleased with this. Moving on page 376 “Nor is he a traitor for white men. Remember that: I am no black traitor to the black people for the white people.” Well if you don’t get brought back to the grandfathers speech in that statement I don’t know where you have been. Or page 381 “my grandfather had often said ‘when you’re youngun, you Saul, but let life….”

Chapter 18–> this chapter didn’t do much for me… all I have to say here is that this kid is seriousl obsessed with his grandfather. I don’t know about you, but I have never looked into someones eyes, and seen my grandfather. Well, apparently the narrator does and why would he freak out so much about it?!?!?! this book is weird… for lack of a much better word

 Chapter 19–> Yea this chapter didn’t really tickle me pink either. All I have for this one is that I think this kid should talk to someone page 415 “And I wanted both to smash her and to stay with her and knew that I should do neither.” Hey, does anyone else see the stripper thing here?!?!? All I can say is that he has some serious women issues. He is the one the slept with her!!!! I guess maybe he is upset with sinner?? I don’t know I got nothing guys. MAYBE.. he has an issue with dishonest women, the stripper well is a stripper and the women is well married and this doesn’t seem to phase either one of them.

Chapter 20–> No notes on this one… the only thing I wrote in my book was.. why is the narrator obsessed with history??

 So what do I think?? I think that this book is very messed up. Why does Ellison keep bringing us back to the same images? Why does the narrator want to hurt and love women? What is the deal with those sexual paper doll things? And why don’t they tell us his name? OH MY GOD!! I just had another epiphany, we don’t his name (either one) because he is invisible. Why would we need to know the name of someone who is a nobody? But ion the brotherhood he isn’t a nobody? So the this whole being invisible thing doesn’t make much sense either. This book is making me think to much and it is kind of upsetting. I am at the point where I just want to read a mindless book that does all the hard work for me. That’s why they are the writers and we are the readers. All I can say is, I am very very undecided about this book. It will be interesting to see how it ends, I will tell you this, if it ends up being some weird and crazy ending that makes me want to throw the book, I think I might just throw the book this time.