The Theme of Discipline in Invisible Man.
Chapter Seventeen and Eighteen
The relation between Invisible Man and the Brotherhood becomes more clearly defined in chapter seventeen and eighteen. The enforced structure and discipline applied upon IM by the Brotherhood is pervasive in these chapters. IM is trained to be a disciplined “soldier” for the Brotherhood’s cause (360). IM even acknowledges that his life is “tightly organized” by the Brotherhood (357). He is indoctrinated and disciplined under Brother Hambro, in order to be an eloquent cog in the Brotherhood’s machine. Brother Jack reminds IM that he must never “underestimate the discipline” of the Brotherhood, and that’s its views and opinions are “strict” and not to be broken or altered (360). IM begins to be “dominated by the all-embracing idea of Brotherhood” and soon realizes that his life has become “all pattern and discipline” (382).
IM questions his invigoration towards to the Brotherhood when he receives an anonymous letter warning him to reduce his zealous efforts. Brother Tarp reassures him that he is very well liked within the Brotherhood. Brother Tarp also gives IM a chain link, a symbol of his” nineteen years on the chain gang” (392). Brother Wrestrum finds fault with the link. He warns IM not to “dramatize differences” between white and black cultural hegemony, and urges him to remove the link from his desk (392). Brother Wrestrum reinforces Brotherhood ideology and proclaims that “[they] have to discipline [them]selves” and calls membership in the Brotherhood a “privilege” (393). These remarks by Wrestrum highlight foreboding contradictions by the Brotherhood, as their seemingly socialist agenda seems to conflict with idea of privileged positions within society.
The word “discipline” continues to appear in these chapters, a constant reminder of the Brotherhood’s rigid expectations and demands. Wrestrum tells IM “to be disciplined in body and mind” (394). IM realizes he is “bending to discipline” exerted by the Brotherhood, and that the organization is shrouded with “secrets of power and authority” (407). Nevertheless, IM continues to be their spokesman, as personal ambitions overpower his disgust of their inflexible, disciplined agenda.
Although Ellison never uses the word discipline in Chapter 19, the chapter is rife with its tests. The Id v. Superego construction is again useful; Invisible Man writes of the “conflict between the ideological and the biological, duty and desire” and the “insistence upon confusing the class struggle with the ass struggle” (416, 417). The Id is his bestial desire, the superego his moral duty. Invisible Man describes the doorman's silence a product of “sophistication” and “over-civilization”; the Id is an elephant in the room of daily interaction. Invisible Man must navigate narrow straits, answering to both his sexual instincts and his social-justice duties.
To navigate such straits requires discipline. Invisible Man tells his reader “I was careful to keep the biological and ideological carefully apart – which wasn't always easy” – “wasn't always easy” references discipline – and “'You should answer the phone,' I said with forced calm, trying to release my hands without touching her, for if I touched her-” (419, 415-6). Ellison stops his thought; he leaves to reader to imagine what will happen if he touches her. He tells the woman with “forced calm” to answer the phone, hoping thereby to escape sex; “forced calm” is discipline.
In his narrow straits, Invisible Man is physically torn, “standing between her eager form and a huge white bed, myself caught in a guilty stance, my face taut, tie dangling; and behind the bed another mirror which now like a surge of the sea tossed our images back and forth, back and forth, furiously multiplying the time and place and the circumstance. My vision seemed to pulse alternately clear and vague … as her lips said soundlessly” (416). His test of discipline is not merely a weighted consideration of his objectives; it is a test of his character. He is physically trapped by the woman and her bed, but he is also trapped morally: a “guilty” stance, face “taut,” and tie “dangling” show that his superego (morality) is very invested in the outcome of the encounter but not in complete control; that the tie, a phallic symbol, “dangles” implies that he cannot reign it in; that he is “caught” in this situation suggests that he, or at least his conscious mind, is not responsible. The mirrors offer context to his decision: he does not choose to have sex with an individual woman in an individual night; his decision is magnified, it is broader, and it is a test of his character. He does not choose whether to have a one-night stand; he chooses between his superego and his id. The reflecting mirrors, his “guilty” stance, and his “clear vision” are his superego; the “dangling tie,” her moving lips, and his “vague vision” are his id.
To be disciplined, his superego must conquer his id.
In chapters 20 and 22, Invisible Man continues learns the role of discipline within the Brotherhood. IM discovers that the Brotherhood’s once-strong presence in Harlem has faded, as they have shifted their focus to issues that are “national and international in scope” (428). Also, the Brotherhood has relinquished part of its emotionally taught propaganda, therefore decreasing their disciplined approach of culminating interest in their causes from the people of Harlem. This “shelving of old techniques of agitation” correlates directly to the decline of the Brotherhood and the rise of Ras within Harlem (428).
The Brotherhood becomes infuriated after they learn of IM’s moving speech at Clifton’s funeral. Brother Jack comments that IM has violated his “personal re-spon-si-bility” (464). IM has trespassed on the Brotherhoods strict, disciplined approach to speeches, and his individual, impassioned choice to give the speech debases their identity of collective action. IM argues that he was hired by the Brotherhood, consequently giving him the liberty to “express” his own ideas (470). Brother Jack responds that the leaders of the Brotherhood “furnish all ideas” of the organization, prohibiting any individual emotion and action that IM exhibited (470). While IM is talking to Brother Jack, Jack’s glass eyes pops out of his head. At this immensely symbolic moment in the text, Brother Jack addresses IM saying, “You must accept discipline. Either you accept decisions or you get out [of the Brotherhood]” (474). He then says that discipline is “sacrifice, sacrifice, SACRIFICE!” (475). In a sense, it is a blind adherence, a blind and unquestioned discipline that the Brotherhood demands of its members. It also disillusions IM that it is this same blind discipline that the Brotherhood’s leaders possess as well. IM realizes that the Brotherhood attempts to eliminate all personal and individual development, as it mandates blind sacrifice to its objectives. Brother Jack, blind to the severity of IM’s mounting opposition towards the Brotherhood, urges him to learn more “program[s]” and “instructions” from Brother Hambro (477). IM proclaims that “some of [him], too, had died with Tod Clifton,” signifying IM’s appeal toward the individualist pursuits and agenda of Clifton as opposed to the blind, structured discipline of the Brotherhood (478).
I really like the way in which you guys present your point between IM's emotional and moving speech and the discipline that the Brotherhood forces on its members. This situation has been shown throughout all of IM's time with the Brotherhood, and the differences in understanding of preaching and inspiring between IM and the Brotherhood create many instances of arguing, fighting, and disgrace among the Brotherhood's members. Overall, I really like they way you present your points of discipline and how it applies in Chapters 20 and 22.
-Chris
Nice entry!! I really enjoyed the part about Jack's blindness in one eye being like the blind discipline that the Brotherhood follows, and the lack of clarity within the organization. The brotherhood presents themselves as a socialist- type of organization fighting for equality yet they have a very clear hierarchy and all of the members are forced to blindly follow the discipline and ideals of the group. Great work!
-dempsey
I really like your analysis of the imagery in chapter 19. I especially think the mirror "furiously multiplying the time and place and the circumstance" is important, because it shows that IM's decision that night will affect him beyond that particular moment, with great consequences. If IM fails this test of discipline, he risks being kicked out of the brotherhood, which makes him truly worried for the rest of the chapter.
At the beginning of the chapter, Invisible Man sees discipline as allegiance to the the ideals and methods of the Brotherhood; by the end of the chapter, he sees discipline as a tool the Brotherhood uses to exploit its members and the Harlem community.
When the chapter opens, Invisible Man identifies himself and is identified with the Brotherhood. Ras incites the crowd against him, and rather than dissociate himself from the Brotherhood and save his own skin, he defends the reputation of the Brotherhood. He speaks tot he crowd, "Who was the first organization to act against this killing? The Brotherhood! Who was the first to arouse the people? The Brotherhood! Who will always be the first to advance the cause of the people? Again the Brotherhood!" Invisible Man lists the achievements of the Brotherhood, posing it as an activist agent for racial justice, and repeats its name three times. He never dissociates himself from the Brotherhood; he does not veer from its ideals and methods in the face of resistance; he shows discipline. (He tells the crowd this explicitly, “We acted and we shall always act … in our own disciplined way.”)
By the end of the chapter, Invisible Man views discipline and sacrifice as a tool the Brotherhood uses to suppress the Harlem community. Hambro again and again emphasizes discipline and sacrifice, yet Invisible Man doubts his integrity. “'With all my integrity' [Hambro] said. For a second I though I'd laugh. … Integrity!” Invisible Man doubts the motives of the Brotherhood, that the Brotherhood is an organization that truly sees him for who he is, and not just another man labeling and exploiting. The “disciplined” members to whom Hambro refers are the white members – the members uninterested in Harlem affairs – and Invisible Man, rather than buy the lies, breaks his allegiance to the Brotherhood and falls back to race lines (“'It's inevitable that some must make greater sacrifices than others …' 'That 'some' being my people …'”; “my people” suggests that Invisible Man reverts to identifying more as a black man than as a Brotherhood member). Hambro, similarly, falls back to race lines (“aggressiveness of the Negroes … slow them down for their own good … Lincolnesque face”).
Invisible Man opens the chapter with discipline of the Brotherhood; he leaves the chapter with the indiscipline of Rinehart and the strong doubt that Brotherhood discipline is anything more than another tool of exploitation.
Throughout most of the book, Invisible Man understands discipline as adherence to what is expected of him. Characters project their expectations onto him, and, when he is disciplined, Invisible Man acts those scripts. Yet as the book concludes, he recognizes the blind façade of the Brotherhood’s enforced discipline. Throughout his journey, he encounters unique identities and perspectives that all seem to have faults. He becomes aware that “Jacks and the Emersons and the Bledsoes and Nortons” in his life are filled with “confusion, impatience, and refusal to recognize the beautiful absurdity of their American identity and [his]” (559). They do not see him for who he wants to be, or how he sees himself, but according to what they want him to do be; they “refuse to recognize” him for how he wants to recognize himself. They fail to recognize a transcendental “American identity,” but instead see a confused projection of their own confused selves. From the Battle Royal to Mr. Norton to Emerson to the Brotherhood to the white seductress, Invisible Man encounters people who define him and later exploit him. No characters allow him the space to define himself, and none accept him for who he is. Discipline, for Invisible Man, is adhering to what others expect from him. Yet by the end he learns that this is not true discipline; he does not want to “die” under the misguided discipline of the Brotherhood (559). It is stifling at best, and dangerous at worst (as when scripted eloquence cannot rescue him from Ras). He learns to see discipline not so much as adhering to the expectations of others, but adhering to himself. He understands by the end that “hibernation [is his] greatest social crime”; by hiding from society, scared to face the expectations and definitions of others, he fails his duty to express himself, to right its wrongs, and to play his “socially responsible role” (581). He tells us that he will “shake off the old skin and leave it here in the hole,” that he will return as a “disembodied voice” (581). To accept the skins that others project onto him is not discipline but cowardice. Discipline, according to the new, reborn Invisible Man, is not staying true to his skins but shedding them, and instead staying true to his voice.
Good job! I really enjoyed your post about Invisible Man's speech at Clifton's funeral and Jack's glass eye. I definitely think when you said that Jack identified discipline as "sacrifice, sacrifice, SACRIFICE", it pointed out his clear contradiction over his thoughts on Clifton as a traitor. The "blind and unquestioned discipline that the Brotherhood demands of its members" completely contradicts Jack's unrest over Clifton; Clifton's sacrifice was seen as a terrible act of treason towards the Brotherhood, even though it is the sacrifice that Jack sees fit to be part of such a disciplines society. Overall, I think your post not only addresses the discipline involved in the Brotherhood but also its contradictions.
I like how you said that IM adheres to his new society through discipline. The "shake off the old skin" quote really hits home on the theme, and I can tell you took the time and did a great job!