Chapter one begins with the Invisible Man's telling how all his life he had been looking for something. He would listen to what other people would tell him he was looking for and not listen to himself. He talks about his past and the death of his grandfather. His grandfather, on his deathbed, says that he had been a traitor, a spy in the enemy's country ever since he had been set free from slavery.

On the Invisible Man's graduation day, he delivers an oration in which he shows humility is the secret to progress. He then is invited to give his speech at a gathering of the town's leading white citizens. When he arrives, he is put into a group of other black men. They are pushed into the main ballroom where there is a naked white woman dancing for the men in the ballroom. The Invisible Man looks although he knows that it will anger the white men. After the white woman leaves the ballroom, the group of black men, including the Invisible Man, are pushed into a boxing ring where they are all blindfolded and told to fight each other. The Invisible Man ends up left in the ring with Tatlock, one of the larger men, and they have to fight until there is only one man left standing. Tatlock wins the fight and the Invisible Man becomes bruised and bloody. After the fight, a rug,covered with money, is placed on the floor. The black men are put around it and told to go for the money. The rug is charged with electricity so that when the men touch the coins on the rug they are shocked. The white men look on cheering as the blacks fight for the money. After that the blacks are taken out of the ballroom and each of them is paid five dollars except for Tatlock who is paid ten dollars because he won the fight. Then they are told to leave. On the way out, the Invisible Man is stopped and told to give his speech. After Invisible Man give his speech, the superintendent presents the Invisible Man with a brief case that has a scholarship to college inside it.

That night he has a dream that he is at the circus with his grandfather. At the end of the dream, his Grandfather gives him a document with fancy writing which reads "Keep This Nigger-Boy Running."

Some themes appearing in chapter one are violence, blindness, prejudice, equality, humility, and running.

Violence and blindness appear during the "Battle Royal" (21)

Prejudice is evident for the white men in the ballroom when they treat the blacks poorly and when they call the Invisible Man "the Ginger colored one" (22).

Equality and humility are present in the Invisible Man's speech (16).

Running appears within his dream at the end with his grandfather (33).

There are many motifs that appear in chapter one.

White women is one: when the naked white woman dances for the men.

Nursery rhymes: he calls himself "Jack the Bear."

Toys: he is called "Sambo."

Blood and "black and blue": he is bruised and bloodied during the "Battle Royal."

Skin color: he is called the "ginger colored one."

The tattoo of the American flag on the dancing white woman places America and American society in the same category as the dancing woman whom he wants to embrace and shun simultaneously.

by Kristin Fuller