Reading books where the narrator goes insane but you aren't realizing it can be incredibly frustrating in my opinion. But with Invisible Man from the beginning we get the result without the cause, which posses the question of how the hell did he get to the point where he is sitting in a tiny room surrounded by blinding light?
For some reason this bothers me less, it feels more honest. I don't know if would like this book as much if it had not featured the prologue. But still, I'm really worried.
I don't know if most people get worried while reading books, but I tend to a lot. I like figuring out puzzles, so when I've figured it out, or at least think I have, I kind of panic. This is something I did with Native Son as well, though that was due to kind of already knowing the plot and just wanting it to stop.
The narrator in this book however, and the book in general, as much as I want to pretend that it will all be ok and the little baby steps he's taking today will turn out into a seemingly logical result of this man sitting in a basement full of light, I kind of doubt it.
I've tried to read this book as if he is sitting there typing all of it out on some old typewriter or scribbling on whatever paper he can get his hands on. This concept presents a problem for believing what the narrator says. If he truly is sitting there writing all of this out, connecting the different strings and levels of this story, then why on Earth would I trust what he is saying? He would already have gone mad at this point.
With the vague nature of the first part of the book it is possible that he is distorting many of the facts. Or that time, and the shock treatment, has so damaged his brain that he actually doesn't remember things the way they were but only in this fashion. Having to question so much in this book makes the narrator's nonquestioning manner almost painful to watch.
Also, even though I don't agree with the way he is choosing to use his invisibility, that doesn't discredit his idea. The invisibility is a mask of sorts, possibly one that reflects what the viewer wants to see. The lessons that he has picked up by this point are obvious in the person he has become. He has so taken on an outward sense of invisibility so that he could find himself.
But where does that leave the reader? Maybe you'll go just as insane trying to figure that out.
For some reason this bothers me less, it feels more honest. I don't know if would like this book as much if it had not featured the prologue. But still, I'm really worried.
I don't know if most people get worried while reading books, but I tend to a lot. I like figuring out puzzles, so when I've figured it out, or at least think I have, I kind of panic. This is something I did with Native Son as well, though that was due to kind of already knowing the plot and just wanting it to stop.
The narrator in this book however, and the book in general, as much as I want to pretend that it will all be ok and the little baby steps he's taking today will turn out into a seemingly logical result of this man sitting in a basement full of light, I kind of doubt it.
I've tried to read this book as if he is sitting there typing all of it out on some old typewriter or scribbling on whatever paper he can get his hands on. This concept presents a problem for believing what the narrator says. If he truly is sitting there writing all of this out, connecting the different strings and levels of this story, then why on Earth would I trust what he is saying? He would already have gone mad at this point.
With the vague nature of the first part of the book it is possible that he is distorting many of the facts. Or that time, and the shock treatment, has so damaged his brain that he actually doesn't remember things the way they were but only in this fashion. Having to question so much in this book makes the narrator's nonquestioning manner almost painful to watch.
Also, even though I don't agree with the way he is choosing to use his invisibility, that doesn't discredit his idea. The invisibility is a mask of sorts, possibly one that reflects what the viewer wants to see. The lessons that he has picked up by this point are obvious in the person he has become. He has so taken on an outward sense of invisibility so that he could find himself.
But where does that leave the reader? Maybe you'll go just as insane trying to figure that out.
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