Black v. White (5)

     In Chapter 25, a race riot ignites as Ras the Destroyer begins his march for black supremacy. The narrator attempts to run away from the dangers of the fight but stops to see, “[a] body hung, white, naked, and horribly feminine from a lamppost” (556). The narrator approaches seven mannequins being lynched and primarily is afraid of the possibility that they are real people, specifically Sybil. The number seven is significant because in literature, it can allude to the seven deadly sins (the most important being treachery to oneself and abandoning one's integrity), as well as the completion of a cycle and positive renewal. The seven white mannequins represent the treachery the Invisible Man has committed against his own identity and the point of realization at which he is able to see who he really is, as well as the final destruction of his wish to blend the blacks and whites in society. 

     The mannequins represent the different roles the narrator tried to take on to assimilate with society. Each and every one of those roles are "lynched" because they do not accurately represent the identity of the narrator; they are fake and hollow, just like the many outer shells that the narrator adopted in order to achieve his dream of associating with the powerful figures in the white community. The narrator tries to explain to the people in the riot that Ras is betraying them by causing them to fight against each other. Ras then tells the people, “Ignore his lying tongue…Hang him up to teach the black people a lesson, and theer be no traitors…Hang him up there with them blahsted dummies” (Ellison 557). Ras tells the mob to hang the narrator with the mannequins, which highlights his failed attempt to satisfy his desire to associate peacefully with white people. The Invisible Man can be compared to the mannequins because by hanging on the streets of Harlem, his dream of ever assimilating into a normal integrated society is lost.