Invisible Man: Chapter 16 Summary & Analysis

In the evening, Brother Jack and some others pick up the narrator in a taxi and drive to Harlem. The narrator is nervous, knowing that he is supposed to give a speech. Jack leads the men into the dressing room of an arena and tells them that they will wait until the audience gets larger.

Brother Jack asks if the narrator has looked over the Brotherhood material, and instructs him to listen to what the other speakers say before him. The narrator will speak last. Left to his own devices, the narrator looks at the picture of an old boxing champion. He remembers a story his father told him about the boxer, and marvels that he has ended up in this same arena. The narrator feels agitated but knows he must trust the Brotherhood now.

The narrator feels nervous and self-conscious. He can barely recognize himself in his new suit and new name. He realizes that he is entering a new phase of his life, distanced from the battle royal or the hospital machine. No one now will recognize him as his old self, not even Mary. Yet he also notices that his grandfather’s dissenting voice is still in him.

The narrator walks out into the alley for some air. He remembers a burned-out sports arena from his childhood, an immense hole that was used as a dumping ground. A syphilitic man lived near the hole, and the narrator feels threatened by the memory of him. Snapping out of it, the narrator looks down the alley and sees three mounted policemen. He decides to let Brother Jack know about their presence.

Inside, the sound of the crowd is beginning to rise. The narrator thinks of a dog named Master from his childhood: “I liked, but I didn’t trust old Master.” He thinks the same thing about both the roaring crowd and Brother Jack. As the noise rises, Brother Jack ushers the speakers out onto the stage.

The group of speakers passes through a passage out into the arena. The crowd roars louder and the narrator is temporarily blinded when the spotlight hits him. The speakers walk up to the platform as the crowd sings “John Brown’s Body.” The narrator notices a great deal of police, but Brother Jack reassures him that the police are there tonight to protect them.

The speeches of the rally begin. At first the narrator tries to remember phrases from the speeches, but quickly gives up. The excitement of the crowd alone carries him forward. Someone pulls the narrator’s coat sleeve, signaling that it is his turn to speak.

The speech gets off to a shaky start, as the narrator is not comfortable using a microphone. After a quick adjustment, the narrator realizes that the crowd is on his side. He has already forgotten the Brotherhood terminology, so he decides to give the kind of protest speech he knows how to give.

The narrator tells the audience that certain people think they are “dumb” and “common.” The narrator offers the rejoinder that the people are actually uncommon because they let themselves be treated poorly. He turns to the subject of dispossession, telling the audience that if they don’t resist, their oppressors will succeed in dispossessing them.

The narrator says that everyone gathered has been dispossessed of one eye, causing them to see only in “straight white lines.” He tells the crowd that they are like two blind men walking down opposite sides of the street. When bricks start getting thrown, the two men blame each other, although there is really a third man in the street throwing bricks at both of them. The narrator tells the crowd that if they band together, they will be able to see their way forward.

As the narrator’s speech begins to climax, Brother Jack comes to his side and gives him a small warning not to “end your usefulness before you’ve begun.” However, the narrator moves forward to the emotional peak, telling the audience that by speaking before them he has come to feel “more human.” He begins to cry. He ends by calling himself “a citizen of the country of your vision,” and asking the people to unite to end dispossession.

The speech is met with thunderous applause. Several members of the Brotherhood congratulate the narrator. However, when the narrator returns to the back room, the reception is not so positive. The man with the pipe calls the speech “unsatisfactory.” Brother Jack becomes very angry, and the two men argue over the correct way to lead the Brotherhood forward. The man with the pipe calls the speech “hysterical, politically irresponsible and dangerous.”

Brother Jack, visibly upset, asks the other members of the backroom committee what they thought of the speech. Opinion is divided, though largely negative. Brother Jack tells the committee that it is important to raise the excitement of the public, and that without energy nothing can be accomplished. The brother with the pipe says that the narrator must be educated in the proper “scientific” terminology of the Brotherhood.

It is decided that the narrator will be temporarily removed from the public eye. He will receive lessons in political theory from Brother Hambro. The narrator is upset, but Brother Jack reassures him, telling him that such a period of “indoctrination” was inevitable.

The narrator returns home, exhausted from his effort. He feels lucky that the speech went over successfully, and notes that it was totally different than any speech he would have given in college. The narrator thinks about the phrase “more human,” remembering his college literature course and deciding that he’s not really sure what it means. He then thinks of Bledsoe and Norton, and laughs that their efforts have made him even more important and dangerous than they could have imagined.