Invisible man

Instructions

1. Analytic Paragraph 1

Reread page 95 (79 online) of Invisible Man and consider what the vet’s statements below imply about what it means to see or fail to see.

“‘Poor stumblers, neither of you can see the other. To you he is a mark on the score-card of your achievement, a thing and not a man; a child, or even less—a black amorphous thing. And you, for all your power, are not a man to him, but a God, a force—’” (95; 79 online).

Using the steps of analysis, arrive at an analytic claim about the vet’s understanding of seeing or failing to see in this moment. Then write a second piece of analysis that arrives at a second claim about seeing or failing to see. You may choose to derive this second claim from another part of the vet’s speech. Or you may want to find a second passage from another scene in the novel and use that passage to arrive at your second claim. Whichever route you take, finish your paragraph with a concluding sentence. Your concluding sentence should:

1. state the relation between your two claims

2. show how this relation reveals something about the meaning of seeing or failing to see.

Remember, your claims in this paragraph may complicate each other or conflict with each other—rarely do they simply agree. Complication and conflict are interesting, so make sure to emphasize the differences between your claims, not just the similarities!

2. Analytic Paragraph 2

Now find two or three more passages from the first four chapters of the novel that seem likely to lead to further analytic claims about seeing or failing to see. Write a second paragraph that follows the same format as the first: give two pieces of analysis and finish with a concluding sentence that states what your two claims reveal about seeing or failing to see.

Note:

You may find that the paragraph you wrote for the Analytic Paragraph assignment relates to the first paragraph of your essay in an interesting way. If would like, you may make corrections to the Analytic Paragraph assignment and use it as your second paragraph in this essay. You may also choose to use part of that assignment, perhaps a quotation or a whole piece of analysis.