When he sees three men standing near him wearing dark sunglasses, TIM gets an idea. He goes to a drugstore and buys his own glasses. As soon as he puts his glasses on, a lady comes up to him and calls him Rinehart. He is fascinated with this and buys himself a hat as well. TIM decides to test the outfit and goes to the Jolly Dollar to see Brother Maceo. Maceo, again, mistakes TIM for Rinehart.

The glasses cause TIM to see the world from a different perspective. He becomes a new person with his disguise. He even gets in a bar fight with Brother Maceo and is ready to kill his friend. In the following sections, TIM is repeatedly approached and mistaken for Rinehart. Each time, however, Rinehart is known as a completely different person. Although he is literally one man, Rinehart has multiple personalities. To each person, Rinehart appears differently. He is a gambler, a numbers runner, a briber of Harlem police, a lover, and even a preacher.

TIM recognizes how Rinehart survives by using people and the world. He realizes that the city is big enough so that wherever he goes, he can act as a different person and not be caught. TIM continues on to Brother Hambro. Brother Hambro has bad news for him. Hambro tells TIM that the Brotherhood cannot concentrate on Harlem anymore. Harlem is going to be sacrificed in order to do what is best for the whole.

It is here that TIM first realizes for the first time that he is invisible. The Brotherhood does not see people as individuals, but as part of a much larger whole. Some may have to be sacrificed, but it is necessary so that the whole to benefit. TIM goes home after unsuccessfully arguing with Hambro. He vows from now on to try to destroy the Brotherhood. He will agree with them on the outside and follow their commands, telling them what they want to hear, but in the end they will be destroyed by their blindness. TIM will use the women of the Brotherhood as an inside source and to get the information that he needs.

Characters
Hambro: The purpose of Hambro's appearance in this section of the novel is to make TIM realize his invisibility.

Rinehart: Rinehart gives TIM a temporary identity. TIM is struggling with what to do with the Brotherhood and Rinehart gives him the answer. Rinehart does not show his real self to anyone, but rather shows each person what he/she wants to hear. TIM realizes this and vows to put up a facade for the Brotherhood.

Setting
Streets of Harlem
Hambro's office
Narrator's apartment

Themes
Invisibility: In this chapter TIM admits his invisibility for the first time. He realizes that the white people, Norton, Emerson, and even the Brotherhood do not see him as an individual. They see TIM as something to use for their benefit and then throw away when they are finished.

Identity: TIM is again struggling with his identity in this chapter. When he puts on the glasses he becomes a new person. This simple costume change affects him. While he is Rinehart, TIM even gets in a fight and is ready to kill one of his friends.

Deception: TIM finally understands what his grandfather had told him back in chapter one, and he decides to follow his grandfather's advice. From now on, TIM vows to destroy the Brotherhood. On the outside he will pretend that there is hope. He will try to build confidence in the people of Harlem, and he will do whatever the leaders of the Brotherhood want him to do. TIM is going to tell them what they want to hear, but he is going to undermine them and destroy them. He will use the women of the Brotherhood as his source of information.

Quotations
"Well, I was and yet I was invisible, that was the fundamental contradiction. I was and yet I was unseen. It was frightening and as I sat there I sensed another frightening world of possibilities. For now I saw that I could agree with Jack without agreeing. And I could tell Harlem to have hope when there was no hope. Perhaps I could tell them to hope until I found the basis of something real, some firm ground for action that would lead them onto the plane of history. But until then I would have to move them without myself being moved . . . I'd have to do a Rinehart" (496).

"I was simply a material, a natural resource to be used. I had switched from the arrogant absurdity of Norton and Emerson to that of Jack and the Brotherhood, and it all came out the same -- except I now recognized my invisibility" (497).

"I'd overcome them with yesses, undermine them with grins, I'd agree them to death and destruction. Yes, and I'd let them swoller me until they vomited or burst wide open" (497).

"... could he be all of them: Rine the runner and Rine the gambler and Rine the briber and Rine the lover and Rinehart the Reverend? Could he himself be both rind and heart?" (487).