1. Warming up with a split-class close reading of setting:
- Group 1: Emerson's office
- Group 2: The paint factory
2. Enjoying a Socratic Seminar on Chapters 9 and 10 of Invisible Man
3. Wrapping up with questions, kudos, and epiphanies
HW:
1. For MONDAY: Read Chapters 11 and 12 and prepare a Socratic ticket.
2. For Feb 7: Select your project / paper poem for an in-class metacognitive.
Invisible Man Chapters 9-10 scribe
ReplyDeletep.180: Emerson’s office
He is an invisible man because he is not comfortable being himself in a world that tries to control him – how is he controlled by the world he lives in?
You have to know yourself to be seen
Narrator seemed very uncomfortable, couldn’t acknowledge that he was black (wasn’t comfortable with his own skin color)
p.198: started to say his name and then didn’t say it – he remains invisible
His name is getting further and further away from his body
When the union is talking about the Narrator is when he is most invisible, he does not say anything. It is like he can’t have an opinion/say.
They are all talking about him but he can’t say
It was interesting when the narrator stood up to B… and because he did that he wasn’t invisible
He puts on a face when he goes and talks to white people
The narrator’s mood has changed a lot during this chapter: was so conserved with Mr. Norton, obedient and tame – comes to the paint factory and has an “attitude”
Was humble until he found out what Bledsoe had done to him
Maybe his change in attitude is due to his falling out with Bledsoe – feels betrayed
The pressure valve could be representative of the narrator – the pressure has been building over the past couple chapters and it finally blew
Study Henrietta Lax and medical experiments due to race at the time
Tracking color: in chapter 9, there was a lot of color; bedroom/office.
In chapter 10 there is not a lot of color however there is a lot more insight to the emotion of the characters
The black paint drops turned the paint whiter (interesting)
p.214: Brockway says “this down here is where the paint is really made”
Definition of optic (surrounding the eye or vision) the words surrounding black and white are very intentional – glistening black/etc. vs optic white
Feels like he can add 2 types of black drops to the paint that is himself – one makes him whiter and the other muddies up the paint
There are 2 kinds of people
Didn’t change the gray tint – sometimes you can’t tell
p.218 “If you are white, you are right.”
p.201: I wondered if the same optic white paint was also used on campus or if it was only for government
Interesting that he says the white paint can cover up anything… also interesting that the government could be using this paint exclusively to cover up their past of slavery/racism
p.205 and 206: relates to the white blindfolds in chapter 1 – at first the narrator couldn’t see through the blindfolds but is later able to see through – similar to the paint having a gray hue that subtly shone through the white. The little bit of gray was undetected – he realizes that he does not have to be the kind of black that turns in to complete whiteness, he can have some gray.
If you are not looking for the flaw you will not find it. (Cool point walker)
Racism is the father of race, not the son. The early explorers of Africa only developed racist ideologies when they realized that they could take advantage of the African resources and people
Birds were in the cage in Emerson’s office. African culture is colorful and bright. African culture = the bird in the cage in Emerson’s office/white people put black people in a cage
What role will what Bledsoe wrote play in the Narrator’s invisibility?
Takes his grandfather’s advice to heart
Song about the robin – like the paint, covers things up