Music Week 3

In chapter 11, the Invisible man is put into a factory “hospital” where doctors begin performing shock therapy on him as part of an experiment. During the procedure, the doctors asked the Invisible Man questions about himself, and more of his childhood. One of those questions was about Buckeye the Rabbit. Upon hearing the name, the Invisible Man recalls the lyrics to the song;

“Buckeye the Rabbit

Shale it, Shake it

Buckeye the Rabbit

Break it, Break it…” (242).

The Invisible Man recognizes the song and is able to see that it relates to his identity as an African American. Also, because he was able to recognize the lyrics and relate them so closely to his childhood, or his “old identity”, it becomes clear that the song itself reminds the Invisible Man of his childhood when he says “Yes, I could not bring myself to admit it, it was too ridiculous- and somehow too dangerous. It was annoying that he had hit upon an old identity…” (242). The invisible man even went on to say that he “was Buckeye the Rabbit…or had been, when as children we danced and sang barefoot in the dusty street. This shows how the song was able to strike up memories of the Invisible Man’s childhood in a procedure where one of the objectives was to eliminate all emotion anyway.