Invisible Man Chapter 8 Discussion Questions

Chapter 8

1. Quote: “But here in the North I would slough off my southern ways of speech. Indeed, I would have one way of speaking in the North and another in the South. Give them what they wanted down South that way. If Dr. Bledsoe could do it, so could I” (164).
   
   1. Who’s advice is he following by saying this? Do you think it will serve him well? Or is he being a “traitor” as his grandfather would say?
      
   2. Do you think people do this today? How so? Is this problematic that people might change their way of speaking for the sake of getting a job?
      
2. Quote: “And here I saw Negroes who hurried along with leather pouches strapped to their wrists...Perhaps the man with rundown heels ahead of me was chained to a million dollars!” (164-165)
   
   1. What is the significance of his descriptions of African Americans working in NYC, using comparisons to slaves in chain gangs?
      
   2. Do you think TIM’s description is positive, negative/problematic, or neutral? What does it say about him to describe them this way? (Connect to his feelings of being ashamed that he was once ashamed that his grandparents were slaves.)
      
3. Quote: “I hadn’t worried too much about whites as people. Some were friendly and some were not, and you tried not to offend either. But here they all seemed impersonal; and yet when most impersonal they startled me by being polite, by begging my pardon after brushing against me in a crowd. Still I felt that even when they were polite they hardly saw me…” (168).
   
   1. What would his grandfather think of TIM’s thoughts here?
      
   2. Do you think this is an okay lookout to have or is it problematic?
      
   3. How does this outlook relate to the experiences with white people we have seen TIM encounter so far?
      
   4. What does this quote hint at in regards to invisibility?