Lucas' 20th Century Lit Blog

       The Brotherhood obviously plays a significant role in the narrator's journey, giving him an opportunity to lead and use his talents for a cause he believes in. This starts all well and dandy, but as we see throughout the progression of the novel, the brotherhood appears more and more problematic with even the narrator coming to question and even directly disagree with them. We start by seeing a few small clues towards the brotherhood's close minded and controlling nature, but eventually Tod Clifton's death broke the camel's back for both me as a reader and the narrator, in terms of perception of the brotherhood.       We first notice the brotherhood's objections to individuality. Even Brother Tarp, who tries to share his impactful story with the narrator, is criticized for highlighting their differences instead of focusing on what makes them the same. This same blindness of the brotherhood, is especially evident after Tod Clifton's death, where...

Throughout I nvisible Man, we get to know the narrator as we read what is basically his entire life story. This character begins as a naive but lovable, however he slowly gains an awareness of what he describes as his invisibility. In the prologue we meet an enlightened, or certainly much developed narrator. He has shed his previous innocence and has fully embraced his "invisibleness." As a reader one is left thinking: "what does this truly mean?" As we progress through Invisible Man  there are various clues as to what his supposed invisibility represents. First and foremost, we never learn the character's name, he never says it himself, however no one around him ever bothers say it either. I believe that his invisibleness is born from how others perceive him as he alludes to in the prologue. Throughout his interactions with various characters in the book, the narrator rarely finds anyone who wishes to get to know him as an individual. For better or for worse...

In Richard Wright's Native Son,  communism plays a central role in the lives of all the characters involved. Either indirectly or directly, characters central to the narrative find their lives shaped by the controversial movement. Bigger Thomas himself, had an encounter with "reds" which became a direct catalyst for the central event of the novel. Throughout all of this, Richard Wright provides a direct commentary on the state of the Communist Party in the 1930s. A known red sympathizer, he obviously had some thoughts and critiques on people within the party. From the introduction of Jan in book 1, to the implicitly socialist character of Max in book 3, Wright begins to create a "handbook" for well intentioned Communists. When the book starts, Jan and Mary intend to help Bigger and befriend him. Jan even makes attempts to lure Bigger into the Communist party. Possibly a nod to people Richard Wright met while involved in the real-life communist party. Jan and Mar...