The narrator in a figurative sense is reborn in chapter 11 after an accident that has robbed him of his memory, ability to speak and his identity. The machinery and music combine to make a noise that resembles a woman in labor. This birth, however, deals with the narrator beginning to recreate his own identity independent of what stereotypes trap him. Because he cannot remember anything, nor does he know much about who he is, the doctors speaking to him don’t get much information from him. As the doctors become more frustrated, they begin to fall back to racial stereotypes. Even though the narrator is a full-grown man, the doctors still call him “boy,” signifying that the doctors don’t feel the narrator is equal to them. The doctors then begin electroshock therapy, noting that the narrator has excellent rhythm. Again, we see the theme of electricity. Going back to chapter one, the white men were shocking the boys on the rug. During that scene, the narrator noted that one of the boys being shocked was dancing “upon his back.” In other words, blacks are really only in positions of entertaining white people. This can even apply to the world today. While black men and women are reaching pinnacles in entertainment (Michael Jordan, Halle Berry) they still struggle to get proper representation in schools as well as government positions. In the case of the book, the doctors are stereotyping blacks as good “dancers” (a means of entertainment) and the narrator is once again invisible to whites. The narrator begins to fight back using the “dozens,” a kind of verbal joust used by blacks in the south during this time. By reaching back into his cultural heritage, he begins to see how he can beat the idea of white racism. “When I discover who I am,” the narrator says, “I’ll be free.” Still, this idea doesn’t fully liberate him. The white doctors begin to get annoyed at the dozens because it differentiates him from the white race. This difference becomes an excuse for the doctors to try to make the narrator their plaything, like in chapter one. The doctors talk about castrating the narrator, which goes back to the idea of stereotyping. Castration would be looked at as a way to disempowering the narrator because it would strip him of his ability to have offspring. If this was done to all blacks, it would be like genocide. This again goes back to the idea of blacks being sex-hungry animals. The doctors once again are stereotyping the narrator – but unlike chapter one, the narrator has a plan of action to go about stopping it. Thus, the narrator leaves the hospital stronger, although he is still not fully liberated.
Up until the prologue, the narrator has sought to be viewed as an individual, not as a stereotype. But these stereotypes have followed him wherever he has gone. He is labeled as subordinate to whites and in the case of the prologue, a thief in need of money. The narrator quickly breaks into a story of bumping into a tall blond man, and as the man walked by, he called the narrator by “an insulting name.” We can infer from the way the narrator reacts that the insult was of a racist nature. The narrator grabs the blond man and demands an apology and begins to use physical violence to force this out. The blond man doesn’t relent, and the narrator walks away, but not before beating the blond man to within an inch of his life. Here, we see the narrator wanting to be identified outside of the stereotype of black men, to be visible to whites. He attacks this blond man because he wants to be viewed as an individual, but these attacks are taken by the blond man as a mugging, as evident by the following day’s newspaper. The newspaper, instead of portraying the narrator as a victim, instead portrays the narrator as a vicious attacker. Now, others reading the paper would identify the narrator according to prejudices. This also speaks generally about the vicious cycle of racism. When the narrator (blacks), try to step up and oppose racism, it was turned around so that the blonde (whites) ended up being viewed as the victim. So the narrator is again invisible because no one sees him for who he truly is. But this time, the narrator, who has come full circle from conforming to what white culture wants him to be like in chapter one, begins to use his invisibility to his advantage. Invisibility gives the narrator the opportunity to drain electricity from the power company without having to pay for it. “All they knew is that according to the master meter back there in their power station a hell of a lot of free current is disappearing somewhere into the jungle of Harlem.” By draining the electrical company’s resources, the narrator is forcing the company to recognize that he exists, yet they cannot respond – in any type of manner, including racial – because they don’t know exactly where the power is draining to. Thus, hiding behind the shield of invisibility, the narrator is able to undermine other’s powers without being caught. This goes back to the idea of electricity. In chapter one and 11, the whites used electricity to hurt the narrator. By the prologue, the narrator has figured out how to use the electricity to work in his favor. Although he is still both metaphorically and literally invisible to the electrical company, he now exclaims that he lives “rent free.” Living “free” can be interpreted in a very liberating manner. At the beginning of the prologue, the narrator seeks to shed his invisibility because he wants whites to see him for who he truly is. For the narrator, this was the only way of gaining power. But he finally learns from the case with the power company that you can be invisible, and still take away power. He is now gaining power for “free” by understanding his situation and being able to take advantage of it. With all of the electricity at his disposal, he lights his living space with 1,369 bulbs. The electric company can’t help but notice that the narrator exists, and with the room so well lit, he can see himself clearly without any outside force working on him. Back in chapter 11, the narrator mentions that he’ll be free once he discovers who he is. With the help of the light, he is finally free and he has completed his progression from a naïve black boy, invisible to whites, searching for acceptance, to a black man, still invisible to whites, but understanding how to take power away from them.
Although the narrator has developed from chapter one until the prologue, there are still some issues to deal with. Is remaining invisible the best way to go about dealing with racism? The narrator views invisibility as a way to safely exercise power other people, or, at the very least, take away power from others without being caught. But this seems like a very passive way to go about things. Although the narrator is gaining power for himself, if he remains invisible, he is only helping himself because he is not visible to other people looking to gain power. But is the narrator really being passive? The number of light bulbs in the narrator’s room, 1,369, is an important number because the square root of 1,369 is the number 37, the age of Ellison when he wrote Invisible Man. Ellison places himself in the novel because he is showing how a proactive approach can be taken to approach society is a complex individual. By writing this book and tackling complex ideas of racism, he is making a proactive contribution to society. So when the narrator begins to use the dozens and discovers a piece of his cultural heritage, and then he sees in the full light who he really is, he is conveying the idea to anyone reading this book that there is more to African Americans than just violence and slavery. He is forcing others to acknowledge him as well as the existence of other beliefs and behaviors of blacks outside of their prescribed stereotypes. So, we see at the conclusion of this progression that the narrator can emerge from his cloak of invisibility, and make a visible difference in society.