Blindness week 5

At this point in the novel, the Invisible Man finally begins to see the truth that the brotherhood was just using him to get what they wanted. He realizes that the race riot that is occurring was set up by the brotherhood as the "sacrifice" that would get them into history, by having many people die through a racial conflict, they would emerge as the leaders and "truth" givers. While the Invisible Man tries to go and confront Jack about his epiphany, he falls down a man hole. At the bottom, it is pitch black and he can't see anything, making him blind. AS he was "whirling on in the blackness", he falls and finds himself in a dark room (568). Too tired to get up, he falls asleep. While sleeping, he dreamt that he was somewhere in the desert surrounded by "Jack and old Emerson and Bledsoe and Norton and Ras" and all the people who had kept him running and kept him blind (569). During the dream, he finally confronts them and states that he is "through with all [their] illusions and lies, [he's] through running" (569). He finally realizes what his grandfather meant when he said to "keep him running". All the people in his dream had kept him from realizing the truth of the world and made him constantly "run" towards the truth that they wanted him to see. They never lead him to the actual truth, causing him to run in circles around the lies of each person and to constantly run as he would never reach the truth this way. Later in the dream, the men around him cut out his eyes and "cast them over the bridge" as Jack states "Now you're free of illusions" (569). The Invisible Man sees now that all the people around him ever tried to do was cut out his eyes and blind him. They believed by blinding him to the truth, and figuratively removing his eyes, that they could mold him into whatever they needed to accomplish their own selfish goals. By doing this, however, they really make him see the truth of what they are doing and finally make him truly accept that he is invisible. He can finally "see that which I couldn't see" (570). Without his eyes, he can now move toward the truth as no illusions or lies can distract him. The Brotherhood's lies cannot reach him now and he is done running at last. Without his eyes, he can see his "generations wasting upon the water" and how by following the Brotherhood, his people will never find equality and his whole race will be kept running. Now that he is blind and invisible, he can transcend the lies and illusions and finally be able to live his life in truth and lead others to that truth as well.