CliffsNotes on

Invisible Man

Search this CliffsNote

Book Summary

Ralph Ellison Biography

Personal Background
Career Highlights
Literary Influences
Commenting on Blacks in America

About Invisible Man

Summary and Analysis by Chapter

Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapters 3–4
Chapters 5–6
Chapters 7–9
Chapters 10–12
Chapter 13
Chapters 14–16
Chapter 17
Chapters 18–19
Chapters 20–21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Epilogue

Character List

Character Map

Character Analysis

The Narrator
Mr. Norton
Dr. A. Hebert Bledsoe
Rev. Homer A. Barbee
Jim Trueblood
Ras the Exhorter
Mary Rambo
Brother Tod Clifton
Brother Jack

Critical Essays

Symbols and Symbolism in Invisible Man
Wordplay in Invisible Man
Profiles of Leadership in Invisible Man
Harlem: City of Dreams

Study and Homework Help

Full Glossary for Invisible Man
Quiz
Essay Questions
Practice Projects

Cite this Literature Note

CliffsNotes To Go Sweepstakes -- Enter Now to Win an iPod touch Loaded with Cliffs Study Apps

Did "New Moon" change your allegiance to the Twilight characters?

Still Team Edward
Still Team Jacob
Switched from Team Edward to Team Jacob
Switched from Team Jacob to Team Edward
I still cannot decide!

View Results

Study and Homework Help

Quiz

1:  At the beginning of the novel, where does the narrator live?

a. With his only true friend Mary

b. In a South Carolina halfway house

c. In the coal cellar of a whites-only building

d. In a partially destroyed tenement in Harlem
2:  In the Prologue, the narrator admires the music of whom?

a. Ma Rainey

b. Billie Holiday

c. Louis Armstrong

d. Paul Robeson
3:  What is a ?battle royal??

a. A brutal rite of passage in which blindfolded opponents fight

b. A dogfight

c. A hazing ritual in which one man is flogged by another

d. An exotic dance that has undertones of violence
4:  What is the narrator surprised to see upon his arrival in Harlem?

a. A group of black people gathered to hear Ras the Exhorter

b. Black girls working at a five-and-dime store

c. A black policeman directing traffic

d. All of the above
5:  Why is the narrator expelled from college?

a. For befriending Ras the Exhorter

b. For socializing with white girls

c. For chauffeuring Mr. Norton to disreputable places

d. For being insubordinate to a professor
6:  What do they make at the factory where the narrator takes a job?

a. Optic white paint

b. Plastic signs

c. Pencils

d. Bottle caps
7:  Trying to determine the narrator?s identity, the doctors at the factory hospital ask him all of the following questions EXCEPT:

a. Who was B?rer Rabbit?

b. Where do you live?

c. Who is your mother?

d. What is your name?
8:  Brother Tarp gives the narrator a link of chain and what?

a. A portrait of Marcus Garvey

b. A portrait of Booker T. Washington

c. A portrait of Frederick Douglass

d. An old pocket watch
9:  Which of the following characters does NOT appear in the narrator?s castration dream?

a. Brother Jack

b. Brother Tobitt

c. Mr. Norton

d. Mr. Emerson
10:  Who says the following: ?You?re a black education fool, son. These white folks have newspapers, magazines, radios, spokesmen to get their ideas across. If they want to tell the world a lie, they can tell it so well that it becomes the truth; and if I tell them that you?re lying they?ll tell the world even if you prove you?re telling the truth. Because it?s the kind of lie they want to hear.?

a. Mary Rambo

b. Mr. Emerson

c. Sybil

d. Dr. Bledsoe
11:  Who says the following: ?[You] mustn?t waste your emotions on individuals, they don?t count.?

a. The school superintendent

b. Big Halley

c. The Narrator?s Mother

d. Brother Jack



Previous page
Next page
Resources

Tools & Resources

Ask Cliff

Read More About

CliffsNotes® To Go
Literature reviews for the iPhone™ & iPod touch® help you study anywhere, anytime.
Learn more now!
cover
Defining Twilight
Your key to acing the SAT, ACT, GED, and SSAT through Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga.
The Ultimate Learning Experience!
WATCH the film and READ the lit note for a fast way to study!
Learn more!