The Brotherhood Quotes

Words: 878
Pages: 4

1. The Brotherhood Betrayal Scene: In this scene in chapter 23, the narrator learns that the Brotherhood plans to shift away their focus from helping the African American people of Harlem who they have promised to ‘save’ in favor of advancing the political power of the Brotherhood. They are, simply put, ditching the African Americans and going against their word so that they can gain more recognition. Readers saw this coming because this isn’t the first time the Brotherhood has been accused of betrayal, and they had not really done anything significant to help the people of Harlem. At this point the narrator finally loses the illusion that he can remain a free individual within the Brotherhood. He finally sees how the Brotherhood has used him …show more content…
This quote reflects the Brotherhood’s insistence on the sacrifice of individuality. By asking the narrator to forget his past, he is asking him to throw away an essential part of his complex identity, thus preventing him from being able to discover his full inner self. The quote emphasizes the thematic idea that a person’s past is a part of them and they cannot be their true self without embracing it. This idea of sacrificing individuality is central to the Brotherhood, as later on the organization attempts to tell people what to think, and ultimately to take away every African American’s individuality. Thinking for oneself is part of being an individual and it cannot be roped into a simple ideology. The Brotherhood’s attempt here to take away part of the narrator’s identity foreshadows their scheme to strip everyone in Harlem of their …show more content…
He has not lived his own life and been himself but rather allowed the complexities of his identity to be determined and limited by the expectations of society. The narrator’s meaning of the term ‘invisible man’ has changed slightly throughout the novel, where in the beginning he was invisible because people chose not to see him, now he is calling attention to the fact that his inner self is real even if others can’t see it. His use of the word ‘invisible’ has changed from having negative connotations to having positive