The people who are "caring for" Invisible Man at the hospital.

The director of the group that treated Invisible Man at the hospital.

Summary:

Invisible Man (TIM) had been in a factory accident and awakes not knowing where he is. Because of the people he sees and the conversations he hears, TIM assumes he is in a hospital. The people around him indicate that he might have some sort of brain injury because he looks pale and dazed. Thus, they hook him to a strange machine that one of the doctors apparently has invented to cure such problems. The only setback is that some of the patient's personality/background is taken away through varying degrees of pressure on the brain. Supposedly the cure gives the patient a new personality to replace the old one. TIM experiences many thoughts in a dreamlike fashion while undergoing treatment. It was as if he were remembering the pleasant memories of his past. At the same time, TIM asks the doctors and nurses, in his mind, if they could imagine such events. Unfortunately the pain overtakes TIM and he ends up in a bewildered state for the remainder of the treatment. Once the treatment is completed, TIM cannot remember anything about himself, except for a few small bits and pieces. The doctors think that this is a good thing because he will be able to start over after being released.

Themes:

White supremacy sticks its nose out again in this chapter when the doctors yell at TIM to shut up as he screams in pain, which ironically is being inflicted by the doctors themselves. As TIM bites his lip to keep from screaming, it is as if the author is reflecting how slaves used to try hiding their pain as white overseers whipped them. White supremacy also shows up in a conversation that TIM hears between two doctors about using the new machine to cure him. The implications are that the two doctors will not try this treatment on a white Harvard graduate, but that they are willing to test it on an African American because he is a minority, which could be exploited. This is evident because they do not consult with Invisible Man to see what he wants. Thus TIM once again loses part of his identity against his will.

The need to know one's self also is suggested in this chapter. Before and after the treatment, Invisible Man is continuously asked, "Who ... are ... you?" (240). It is as if the doctors are forcing him to try to remember something about himself so that he will be able to survive. When he is finally left alone, Invisible Man continues to ponder over the question of who he is while trying to figure out a way to escape from the machine. The manner in that Invisible Man sees himself working out his thoughts is like a game. It is as if the author is saying that one is always competing to discover who he or she really is although he or she might never know.

Significant Quotations:

"I had no desire to destroy myself even if it destroyed the machine; I wanted freedom, not destruction. It was exhausting, for no matter what the scheme conceived, there was one constant flaw--myself. There was no getting around it. I could no more escape than I could think of my identity. Perhaps, I thought, the two things are involved with each other. When I discover who I, I'll be free" (243).

The machine could be a symbol of life or society. One needs to discover who he is before he is free to do what he pleases or go where he pleases. Plus most people do not want to destroy themselves before they have the chance to be free. (Possible reference to slaves who wanted to be alive and free at the same time.)

Motifs:

The color white -- Invisible Man is sitting in a white chair and has been given a white pair of overalls to wear at the start of the chapter. This could be an indication of how he is being entangled in white supremacy along with the possibility that he might begin to think and act like a white person later in the book.

Music -- Invisible Man hears the opening strain of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (three short chords, one long one) before and during the first stages of his hospital treatment. This piece often is used in films to give the sense that something is not right or that something is going to happen. This thought is indicated to be running through Invisible Man's mind as he is first trying to find out where he is.

The reference to a bright third eye on one of the people that Invisible Man sees. This could symbolize an extra insight or a sixth sense that white people might have when they deal with people of a different race. It continues to burn in Invisible Man's eyes after the man leaves indicating the influence that the white community might have on him.

Theme:

The last sentences of the chapter portray Invisible Man's being swept down to the subway and into Harlem. The underground theme has been mentioned a few other times up to this point. This and the fact that he is being taken underground and to Harlem could foreshadow events that are still to come.