The Impacts of Reverend Homer A. Barbees Speech in...

The fifth chapter of Invisible Man finds the Narrator sitting in chapel utterly entranced by the words of Reverend Homer A. Barbee, who engages the audience by beautifully eulogizing the life and death of the schools beloved founder many years before. After the speech the narrator says, For a few minutes old Barbee had made me see the vision and now I knew that leaving the campus would be like parting of the flesh (120). Barbee made the Narrator want to be a part of this vision more than anything, and even worse, he made him want something he couldn’t have. Yet, moments later, the Narrator ...hurried past the disapproving eyes of teachers and matrons, out into the night (121). This is a contradiction with his desire to be a part of this vision because he is running away from the very institution that’s supposed to make this possible. He also finds himself resenting the address in a way. Possibly because it was too much of what he wanted. One part of this reaction is c ertainly his not wanting to leave, but knowing he will be forced out. Yet, on another, as of yet undefined level the Narrator is for the first time reacting against the novels recurring theme of rhetoric as a manipulative device of power and control. The speech is more or less a positive reflection on the Founder’s life that tends to leave out any challenges. Or even evidence of perseverance through challenges, which would have seemed to give him ethos with his audience. The Narrator has been made to