Invisible Man has occurrences where in his mind a folktale or a children's piece of nursery rhymes flows through his thoughts. They happen at random almost, instantaneously after someone or some event triggers the thoughts into his mind. The stories of Brer Rabbit, which revealed they many cases where the smaller, inferior being prevails over the forces that overwhelms him. The force that is evident in these child stories is Brer Fox. Each story with its new plot to out-trick the other, or to survive each battle, relates to the life experiences of Invisible Man.

"Brer Rabbit en Brer Fox wuz like some chilluns w'at I knows un," said Uncle Remus, regarding the little boy, who had come to hear another story, with an affectation of great solemnity. "Bofe unum wuz allers atter wunner nudder, a prankin' en a pester'n 'roun', but Brer Rabbit did had some peace kaze Brer Fox done got skittish 'bout puttin' de clamps on Brer Rabbit." This excerpt is from "Old Mr. Rabbit, He's a Good Fisherman," of the Brer Rabbit series. Invisible Man does out-fox the aggressor, or the white man, by being invisible to him. Living his life indiscernible to white society leads him to believe that he can do almost anything he wants without consequences. In this case, the "fox" can never catch him. Invisible Man believes that Afro-Americans should have "no reason, like Brer Rabbit . . . shouldn't be allowed to snatch victory of conscious perception from the forces that overwhelmed them" (xxi).

Another example of well known tales is the appearance of the rhyme of the Three Blind Mice. Invisible Man tells us how whites perceive the blacks to be blind "un-commonly blind. And I don't wonder. Think about it, they've dispossessed us each of one eye from the day we're born. So we can only see in straight white lines. We're a nation of one-eyed mice--Did you ever see such a sight in your life? Such an un-common sight!" (343) This most likely refers to the idea that whites have made sure the blacks see these "straight white lines" or the rules of the white man for them to obey. Invisible Man believes this to be an un-common sight and thinks all blacks are not as blind as the whites think. One idea the narrator derives is to get the uncommon people to use "both our eyes [and] we may see what makes us so uncommon, we'll see who make[s] us so uncommon!" (344) Since the blacks are "one-eyed," the whites may instigate a fight. But being only one-eyed and "walking down opposite sides of the street . . . we start blaming each other and fight among ourselves" (344). These instances are well worked in by the author. They might be children's books but the overall meaning to them effectively portrays how the narrator deals with his life as well as how he views it.

Other Ancillary Topics