In Chapter 20, Invisible Man goes to Barrelhouse's Jolly Dollar after finally returning to the city. At the pub, he is confronted by a couple of drunks when he greets them. They have a verbal argument which Barrelhouse puts an end to. Afterwards, Invisible Man speaks with Barrelhouse and finds out that the Brotherhood has stopped its work. After leaving the pub, Invisible Man goes back to headquarters and tries to find Brother Tarp but he is nowhere to be found. Invisible Man also tries to contact Clifton but he cannot get in touch with him either. He then tries to contact other members of the Brotherhood to ask them about the day's meeting, but he is unable to come in contact with them either. He leaves headquarters and goes to the place where the meetings are held to find that he has purposely been overlooked when the messages were passed out about the meeting.

He leaves the meeting place and goes out onto the streets to roam. While wandering on the streets, he sees Clifton selling dancing dolls on the streets. These dolls aggravate Invisible Man because they are stereotypical against black people. Invisible Man becomes aggravated and ruins one of the dolls by spitting on it. Then the police come, and Clifton is forced to leave because he does not have a permit to sell his products on the street. Invisible Man continues walking and eventually finds that Clifton is across the street from him being pushed along by a police officer. He watches Clifton through a passing streetcar and sees Clifton turn on the officer and attack him, knocking him to the ground. The officer responds by shooting Clifton. By the time that Invisible Man gets across the street, the officer is already telling him to go away. Clifton is already dead. Invisible Man stays until an ambulance takes Clifton's body away.

He then continues walking the streets until he goes down into the subway. While waiting for his train, he observes three men who are dressed alike walking through the subway. They get onto his train and he watches them as they are sitting on the train. The men are so alike that they remind Invisible Man of the dolls which he had seen earlier. He gets off at his stop and sees a bunch of kids running away from a store with stolen candy bars in their hands. He is tempted to trip the store owner who comes chasing after the kids but stops himself from doing so. It does not matter, however, and old lady trips the store owner instead.

In this chapter the most noticeable symbol is the dolls. They represent the stereotypical black who Invisible Man hates because they remind him of Ras the Exhorter. He considers them to be below his level. He feels that they are underachievers who could do better but decide not to.

by Tony Pregent