Ralph Ellison Invisible Man

The “battle royal” where the black boys are made to fight with each other symbolizes

• backwardness of southern blacks as compared with Northern blacks

• the way whites manipulate blacks by turning them against one another.

• the way things were in small southern towns 50 years ago

• the ancient African rituals for selecting a tribal chief

The narrator gets his identity in the first quarter of the novel by following the model of

• the founder and Dr. Bledsoe

• his grandfather and Jim Trueblood

• Tod Clifton and Ras the Exhorter

• Mr. Norton and Mr. Emerson

In light of the content of his speech, Reverend Barbee’s blindness is an example of

• irony

• allegory

• tone

• atmosphere

The narrator’s encounter on the street with Peter Wheatstraw

• suggests the importance of forgetting the past

• provides him with a new job and place to live

• reminds him that his southern folk heritage is part of his identity

• reinforce the hopelessness of the black situation in New York

The narrator’s experience at Liberty Paints suggests that

• black labor was the foundation for America’s industrial strength

• whites use blacks to enhance their own superiority

• American businesses were opposed to unionization

• the narrator ought to work for a company owned by black people

Mary Rambo’s iron minstrel bank, which the narrator breaks, symbolizes

• the Southern ways he cannot escape

• wealth

• his need for a home

• the Brotherhood’s philosophy

The Brotherhood represents

• white “do-gooders”

• the Communist Party

• prototype for the Black Panthers

• the brotherhood of man

Brother Jack’s character is symbolized by his

• leg shackle

• glass eye

• limp

• business suit

The member of the Brotherhood most faithful to the narrator and his work in Harlem is

• Brother Wrestrum

• Brother Tobitt

• Brother Tarp

• Brother Hambro

The Brotherhood is opposed to the narrator’s emotional and personal style of speaking because

• they are afraid the crowds will get out of control

• it does not reflect their scientific, rational philosophy

• it makes the other speakers look bad

• it reveals the narrator’s lack of education