Invisible Man: Chapter 25 Summary & Analysis

Soon the narrator can hear abundant gunfire. Suddenly, the narrator is pushed aside by four men dragging a safe through the street. The narrator jumps away as he hears gunfire, but is hit by a bullet. The bullet has grazed his head, and blood runs down his face. Another man has been killed, and the discarded safe has hit the trolley’s third rail, showering the street with blue sparks. The narrator gets up, and a man hands him his brief case.

All of Harlem seems to be consumed by chaos. The narrator joins up with a group of men, the two most prominent of which are named Dupre and Scofield. The men are moving through Harlem, looting any store they can find. Dupre is wearing several hats and several pairs of suspenders. The men look at the narrator’s brief case and assume that he has filled it with his own loot. The brief case is heavy, and the narrator remembers that he still has Mary’s coin bank inside of it. He puts all of his papers, including Clifton’s Sambo doll, into the brief case.

As the men move through the riot zone, the narrator asks the men how the riot started. None of the men know for sure, but one implies that the riot started because of Tod Clifton’s shooting. The narrator is amazed that Clifton’s death has caused so much destruction. Another man tells them that Ras the Destroyer caused the riot.

Dupre tells the narrator that the men are “fixing to do something what needs to be done.” The men break into a hardware store. Every man is given a flashlight and batteries, and the narrator feels happy to follow along instead of being in charge. Next, the men fill buckets with oil and carry them out from the store. Dupre tells them that their destination is just around the corner.

As the men walk, they run into a crowd of men pulling a milk wagon. On top of the wagon is an obese woman in a pinafore who is drinking beer from a barrel. The woman sings loudly as the men slowly haul her down the street. The narrator feels saddened by the spectacle, and Scofield remarks that things are being taken too far.

The men arrive with their buckets at a huge tenement building where most of the men live. Dupre instructs the men to take their buckets to the top of the building to dump their kerosene, making sure that all the rooms are clear of people. The narrator asks where the men will live after they burn down their home, to which Scofield replies that the only way to get rid of such terrible conditions is to burn them down. A pregnant woman tries to stop Dupre from burning the building, but he shrugs her off, telling her that no more men will be born in such an inhumane building. The narrator wonders what Brother Jack would think of a man like Dupre.

The narrator goes up the tenement with Scofield and the two men splash their kerosene as planned. After the building has been evacuated, Dupre gives the signal to light matches. The men light the fire and rush down the stairs. The narrator realizes that he’s left his brief case up with the fire and runs back upstairs, telling himself he’s had it too long to give it up now. The narrator retrieves his brief case and stokes the fire further before running back down.

After the narrator exits the tenement, a voice in the crowd recognizes him by his Brotherhood name. Another voice calls out to catch the narrator, indicating that Ras the Destroyer is looking for him. The narrator disappears into the crowd. He wonders why the Brotherhood called him if it was too late to do anything about the situation. He resolves to head toward the district offices.

The narrator runs into Scofield again in the street. They encounter a man who is bleeding profusely, and the narrator helps tighten the man’s tourniquet to stem the blood. A boy asks if the narrator is a doctor, to which the narrator says no.

Scofield tells the narrator that he seems familiar, but doesn’t recognize the narrator as a member of the Brotherhood. The two men come across a squad of white-helmeted policemen who are being attacked with bricks from the tops of the neighborhood buildings. The policemen run for cover and begin shooting back at the buildings. Scofield and the narrator run for cover, and the narrator thinks Scofield has been hit. He discovers that Scofield is all right, and Scofield pulls out a pistol to start shooting back at the cops.

The narrator overhears a conversation in which a man says he wants to do some “fighting back” if there’s going to be a race riot. The term “race riot” puts the night in context for the narrator as he begins to realize the Brotherhood’s true intentions. The committee had been hoping for a riot all along, knowing that the black rioters could never triumph over armed police. The narrator understands that by “yessing” the committee, he actually enabled them to carry out their plans unhindered. Disgusted, the narrator runs from the shooting, cursing the Brotherhood.

As the narrator runs through the streets he sees pandemonium and looting everywhere. Suddenly he sees a white body hanging from a lamppost. The narrator becomes terrified, noticing seven hanging bodies. He is shocked and relieved to discover that the bodies are actually mannequins. Though individually harmless, they are a dark premonition of what could happen. The narrator thinks of Sybil and keeps running.

Ras the Destroyer is riding through the streets of Harlem at the head of his gang. Ras is dressed as an Abyssinian chieftain, complete with spear, shield, and a big black horse. He calls to the men on the street to stop looting, asking them to join him on a raid of Harlem’s armory. Seeing Ras, the narrator searches his brief case for his dark-lensed glasses, only to find that they’ve been crushed. Suddenly, the narrator finds himself trapped in the crossfire between the police and the forces of Ras.

Ras’ men spot the narrator, and Ras throws his spear at him, which misses and lodges itself in one of the dummies. The narrator tells Ras that he is no longer is a member of the Brotherhood, as the narrator is against a race riot. Before the narrator can fully explain himself, Ras orders his men to hang the narrator. Three men grab the narrator, but the narrator grabs Ras’ spear and uses it to defend himself. The narrator tries to explain to Ras that a race riot plays into the hands of the whites, but Ras won’t listen.

Ras shouts again to hang the narrator, and the narrator realizes that if he is hanged the tragedy might bring the community closer to liberation. However, he soon reconsiders, thinking that it would be too absurd to die at the hands of Ras after everything he’s been through. The narrator throws the spear back at Ras, piercing Ras’ mouth and locking his jaws shut. The narrator runs from Ras’ men.

Ras’ men chase after the narrator and struggle with him, but the narrator breaks free and keeps running. The narrator feels himself struck with a burst of water from a broken water main, and is almost run down by a mounted police officer. The narrator tells himself that he has to make it to Mary’s house.

Having escaped the commotion somewhat, the narrator overhears a group of men talking about the wild evening. One describes the eventual encounter between Ras and the police force, with Ras charging the police on his horse. The man recounts that Ras used his spear and shield in close combat before fleeing from the police. The other men barely believe his story, but the storyteller insists that it’s true.

The narrator begins to look for Brother Jack, convinced that finding him is the only way to destroy the Brotherhood. As he searches, he runs into a trio of white men in civilian clothes. The men are armed with bats. The men ask the narrator what he has in his brief case, and the narrator instinctively runs from them. Running from the men, the narrator falls down an open manhole into absolute darkness.

The narrator realizes that he has landed upon a load of coal. The men tell the narrator to come out of the hole, but the narrator tells them to come and get him. The narrator continues to taunt the men, who place the cover back over the manhole in retaliation. The narrator is trapped in total darkness. He feels tired, and thinks to himself that he should have gone to Mary’s. The narrator falls asleep.

When he awakens the next day, the narrator realizes he is still trapped in the hole. Realizing that he needs to make light, the narrator searches through the coal until he finds a dropped book of matches. The narrator is forced to open his brief case to use the paper inside for a torch. He begins by burning his high school diploma, which lights the room. The narrator sees that he is in a deep basement, big enough that he cannot see the whole space. He sets out looking for an exit.

As the narrator searches through the basement, he burns Clifton’s Sambo doll for light. Next, he takes out the anonymous note and begins to burn it. As it burns the narrator realizes that the note’s script is the same as the slip that gave him his Brotherhood name. He realizes that Brother Jack was the author of the anonymous note. The narrator begins to scream and accidentally extinguishes his light.

Now immersed in darkness again, the narrator stumbles down a long passage. He does not know how much time passed. The narrator feels himself trapped in a state between dreaming and wakefulness. He has a vision of himself as a prisoner of all his past enemies, including Ras, Brother Jack, Mr. Norton, and Dr. Bledsoe. The narrator tells his captors that he is done running. The captors castrate the narrator with a knife, and the narrator’s parts fly up and float over a bridge. Brother Jack asks the narrator what it feels like to be free of one’s illusions. The narrator tells his captors that his seed is wasting along with their sun and their moon. At the end of the vision, the bridge strides off like a machine.

The narrator awakes again in blackness. Realizing that he cannot return to his old life, he decides to take the opportunity to think about his life in peace and quiet. He resolves to “take up residence underground.”