Music Week 2

In the Invisible Man, the main character finds himself leaving the apartment of Mr. Emerson, disappointed after finding out what was said inside all of the letters. He gets onto a bus where he encounters a man whistling a tune that the main character recognized as a song going:

“O well they picked poor Robin clean

O well they picked poor Robin clean

Well they tied poor Robin to a stump

Lawd, they picked all the feathers round

from Robin’s rump

Well they picked poor robin clean” (193).

The song is used to mock the Invisible Man. It mocks the pride and confidence that he had before he went into the meeting with Mr. Emerson’s son. He was essentially “picked clean” of the hope of finding a  job in the city, but also of being able to rejoin the college. The song also serves to mock the way the Invisible man admired Dr. Bledsoe, when he says “The robin bearing this letter is a former student. Please hope him to death, and keep him running. Your most humble and obedient servant, A. H Bledsoe…” (194). This shows how the Invisible man believes himself to be the Robin in the song, and now believes that Dr. Bledsoe was using Mr. Emerson, and all of the other trustees as ways to“[pick] poor Robin clean”.