Power

In chapter four, the narrator returns Mr. Norton to his room after the prior absurd events and fetches for Dr. Bledsoe immediately following. Dr. Bledsoe was furious after learning of the situation. He advised that “we take these white folks where we want them to go, we show them what we want them to see.” Arriving at Rabb Hall “[they] approached a mirror, Dr. Bledsoe stopped and composed his angry face like a sculptor, making it a bland mask, leaving only the sparkle of his eyes to betray the emotion that [the narrator] had seen only a moment before.” In the novel, Dr. Bledsoe has a large amount of power for a colored man. However, even a man of his stature is nothing compared to a white man’s power. Over the years Dr. Bledsoe has earned his status by pleasing the powerful white men of society. If he were to disappoint them, his life as he knew it would go out the window. As the invisible man witnesses the facade put on by Dr. Bledsoe, he realizes that there is some truth to his grandfather’s final words. It is crucial for the narrator to see one of his role models “overcome ‘em with yeses” in order to jump the large hurdle that is society.