Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Study Questions
1. What does the narrator tell us about himself in the very beginning of the prologue?

2. To what does the narrator attribute his invisibility?

3. Why does the narrator attack a man in the street?

4. What is the name of the company with which the narrator claims to be “having a fight”?

5. What reason does the narrator give for his fight with this company?

6. Whose music does the narrator enjoy?

7. What is described in the first part of the narrator’s fantasy?

8. When the narrator talks to the old woman in his fantasy, what reason does she give for loving her old master?

9. Why does one of the old woman’s sons attack the narrator in the fantasy?

10. What has the narrator done to make his dwelling-place more livable?

Answers
1. The narrator says that he is an invisible man. He next says that he is a flesh-and-blood man, not a creation of writers or film directors.

2. The narrator attributes his invisibility to the failure on the part of the eyes of other people to see him.

3. The narrator attacks a man in the street because the man fails to apologize for insulting him, thereby not acknowledging the narrator’s existence.

4. The name of the company with which the narrator is having a fight is Monopolated Light & Power.

5. The narrator says that he fights with Monopolated Light & Power to feel his “vital aliveness.”

6. The narrator enjoys the music of Louis Armstrong.

7. The first part of the narrator’s fantasy is a sermon.

8. When the narrator talks to the old woman in his fantasy, she says that she loved her old master because he gave her several sons.

9. One of the old woman’s sons attacks the narrator in the fantasy because the narrator made the man’s mother cry by asking her too many questions.

10. To make his dwelling-place more livable, the narrator has installed a great number of lightbulbs. He has 1,369, and says that he plans to put in many more.