Mary
I've found the lack of a sidekick, best friend, or consistently-appearing loved one to be part of the surreal aspect of Invisible Man, especially as the narrator speaks with such conviction of love and hate and similar attachments by the end of the novel. When wondering if the narrator truly loved anyone, I thought initially of Mary. Certainly, Mary Rambo is one of the few characters the narrator ever feels personally attached to. She becomes far more to him than just the landlady.
The name 'Mary' has always been associated with maternity, ever since the birth of Jesus. Similarly, Mary Rambo represents a mother figure in the narrator's life, especially after his 'rebirth' from the paint factory. She takes him in; she nurses him back to health physically and mentally; she is like a solid rock in his life he anchors himself to while searching for his identity in an unfriendly city. Like mother and son, Mary becomes a necessary part of the narrator's existence, yet she is also a constant annoyance and even a source of embarrassment and awkwardness. When the Brotherhood tells the narrator he must leave Mary behind to truly become a part of the organization, he does so with reluctancy. This almost symbolizes the narrator leaving the nest, parting from his mother and finding his own path in an alien world. The narrator convinces himself he is right to leave Mary without a word -- in fact, is he not doing what she's always asked of him? That is, to make a difference with his youth and potential?
The narrator describes Mary as "large and dark;" it's a profile reminiscent of the stereotypical Southern mammy. But Mary is no mammy -- though perhaps kind yet crude, as the category requires, she is progressive and sees something within the narrator. It is again that prompting of him to make something out of himself, to do something for his people. Certainly, the narrator only takes up the job with the Brotherhood at first because of his guilt after freeloading off of Mary. So Mary's impact on him is profound, both upon the narrator's life after rebirth and his eventual career. Yet I'm not sure 'love' would be the right word to describe his feelings towards her: it is more of a necessary, yet bittersweet encounter that nudged him towards the direction he was fated towards. She was not a mother he would lay his life down for, like in the movies, but another helping hand who helped open his eyes to all the forms of invisibility in their world.
I think the 'love' the narrator describes is more of a general feeling of warmth and care for the universe; for humanity. It's not one specific person. I'm not really sure where I wanted to go with this tangent, but while sifting through my questions about the narrator's motives, Mary helped me see that his love was not the typical dramatic and passionate affection for one person so typical of a protagonist, but more so an appreciation, an understanding of all those he's met. It's for those who have helped him in his journey, and for those out there he has yet to meet that may be leading lives trapped in invisibility like his once was.
It does seem important in some way--and puzzling, too--that the narrator suddenly decides to try to run to Mary's at the end of the novel, during the riot. He doesn't explain this impulse, but it does remind us of how he'd been mostly annoyed by her pushing him to "play a role in the community," but he's pretty eager to sign up for "community leadership" when it's Brother Jack making the offer. You make some great points about how Mary is the closest we get to a mother figure in this book (we hear almost nothing of the narrator's own mother), but it's still puzzling why he doesn't appreciate her more, and why he's so put off by her (innocent-sounding) encouragement that he get involved in his community, as she has. She's far and away the most positive character in the novel, by most measures, but he remains curiously distant from her--it's pretty easy for him to move out and cut ties.
ReplyDeleteThe closest we see to a "friendship" with this narrator would be Tod Clifton, whom he describes as his "best friend" at one point. But we don't see too much of this friendship in action (just that classic bonding experience of street-fighting against West Indian black nationalists!), and it's actually surprising to hear him describe Clifton in these terms. Ellison's narrator is a curiously independent person who seems to have few if any deep ties to any other person. He lets all these relationships slip away while underground, and we have no sense of who he might hang out with when he emerges again.
Hello Tracy, this was an excellent blog post! You did a great job of providing a lot of background information about your interpretation of the characters, such as Mary's name, and it really illustrates your point nicely. The narrators relationship with Mary is definitely not a typical one, and her presence in the narrators storyline was a turning point. As you mentioned, the way she helped the narrator finally begin to break free of his invisibly was a huge turning point in discovering his identity. Fantastic Job!
ReplyDeleteTracy, I agree that Mary seemed to have some type of almost maternal presence in the protagonists life. It was interesting to consider this idea of the narrator's "rebirth", but it definitely would make sense. I feel like you can split this book into two parts: before the brotherhood and after/during the brotherhood. Mary certainly played a large part in the "before" area of Invisible Man, and was a large pushing factor to the narrator joining the brotherhood. I think you could definitely say the book wouldn't be the same without her.
ReplyDeleteTracy I think you did a really good job on this blog post and you explored something that never really even crossed my mind when thinking about invisible man. It never occurred to me that he doesn't really seem to have any best friend or really anyone he is consistently close to, but now that I think about it, he definitely doesn't and I think that does have implications. I liked your analysis of Mary and whether or not he really felt love or not. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI really like how you went deeper into the one of the narrator's relationships. I definitely agree that to the narrator, Mary was much more than the landlady who helped him adjust to the city that he was fond of. Like you, I was intrigued by his lack of close friends and confidants and I wonder if this was a conscious effort made by the author to emphasize the certain themes the narrator displays. Great work, I look forward to what you have to say next!
ReplyDeleteHi Tracy, I really your analysis of Mary as a motherly figure in the novel - her name is the most obvious example of this and she gives the narrator this support that you would give an infant during this initial time in a new city in a new region of America. I agree that his love comes in the form of gratefulness and acknowledgment and like Mr. Mitchell said in his comment, the narrator doesn't even seem to have deep or meaningful relationships with any one particular character in the book. I think this has to do with him being the 'invisible' man - Ralph Ellison gives us plenty of space to interpret things on our own, to put pieces together and assume things. Great job on this post!
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