This chapter occurs after Jack's confrontation with the Invisible Man about his speech at Clifton's funeral. The opening setting is in the bar on the floor beneath the Invisible Man's office. Some people are arguing over Clifton's murder and the Invisible Man chooses to leave. He goes to see his teacher, Hambro, but runs into Ras the Exhorter making a scene in the middle of the street on the way. He is slandering the Brotherhood, and the Invisible Man is forced to speak in its defense. He is able to escape the situation unharmed, but as he leaves, the crowd is still attacking the Brotherhood.

In fear of Ras and his men chasing after him, Invisible Man runs into a drugstore and purchases a pair of dark green, almost black, glasses. As he leaves the drugstore, he runs to catch a cab but is mistaken by a woman for someone named Rinehart. She asks Invisible Man about the hat she had given him (still thinking he is Rinehart) but soon realizes that she is incorrect about his identity. As he leaves the woman, he realizes that the hat idea is a good one, runs into a hat shop, and buys the biggest white hat he can find. He is mistaken for Rinehart several more times on the street, and is even mistaken by a good friend, the bartender, Barrelhouse. Invisible Man directs a question at one of the brothers that is having a drink, and the man suddenly erupts and accuses Invisible Man of attempting to fight. Barrelhouse eventually throws Invisible Man out at gunpoint, still mistaking him for Rinehart.

He continues on his way to see Hambro and comes across children handing out advertisements for "Reverend Rinehart's" sermon concerning the subject of invisibility. He walks into the church, and is mistaken for the reverend himself. When he leaves, he finally is able to make his way to Hambro's and discusses with him the future of the Brotherhood, and especially, the Harlem district. He discovers through this discussion that the Brotherhood is an organization that promotes unnecessary sacrifice and blindness. He explores this and his invisibility in thought for the rest of the chapter and decides on a plan of near revenge on the Brotherhood.

Invisible Man: He becomes very aware in this chapter that he is invisible, and for the first time, acknowledges this. He also becomes aware that the Brotherhood controls its people by making them all blind and by making them sacrifice themselves for this blindness. When he disguises himself, he actually begins to see things more clearly rather than becoming more blind. He understands that by becoming Rinehart, he loses his own identity and then realizes that he has no identity at all. This is a major revelation for Invisible Man.

Ras the Exhorter: He becomes much more passionate about his subject, and likewise, more violent. He calls himself "Ras the destroyer." His attacks on the Brotherhood are much more severe, but Invisible Man is still blind to what he is saying. The paradox is that Ras is perceived as evil, but he is actually more truthful than Invisible Man realizes.

Rinehart: He is possibly the most invisible person in the novel. He is known as the runner, the gambler, the briber, the reverend, the lover, and many other things. He has no true identity. He is also never actually seen by the reader.

Hambro: He has been Invisible Man's teacher and mentor during his time in the Brotherhood, and now he is basically exploiting it. He exposes the truth of the Brotherhood to Invisible Man without actually realizing it, because of his own blindness.

As in most chapters, the black-white (and color in general) motif is used often. The motif of roundness and circles is also prominent. The motif of machines is mentioned in Invisible Man's discussion with Hambro, and there is a frequent use of the hot-cold motif and also nursery rhymes (the children on the street sing "Hickory Dickory Dock" and "Humpty Dumpty"). There is a constant mention of Brotherhood and union, there is infinite oxymora, and several things are described as "dreamlike."

This chapter uses many different motifs. Some of the motifs that are in the beginning of the novel had disappeared, but they all return in chapter 23.

There are many major themes in this chapter as well. Blindness, sacrifice, and invisibility are probably the most prominent. There are mistaken identity, cover-up, betrayal, running, and a suggestion of violence as well. Like the motifs, there are so many in the novel. Some of them appear in the beginning and in the middle, but vanish. Toward the end, beginning in chapter 23, all of the themes come back and combine to emphasize Invisible Man's new revelations and discoveries.

The epitome of oxymoron in this novel is displayed as Invisible Man thinks, "I was and yet I was invisible, that was the fundamental contradiction. I was and yet I was unseen" (507). This occurs as he finally realizes his invisibility and as he understands that he can almost use this invisibility to his advantage. Invisible Man also realizes his own blindness, thinking "how much was known about me? Who from my old life had challenged me? And after all this time I had just discovered Jack's missing eye," (499). In addition to his own blindness, he also begins to understand that everyone in the Brotherhood is blind as well. "Here I had thought they accepted me because they felt that color made no difference, when in reality it made no difference because they didn't see either color or men..." (508).

by Jessica Tretler