A Naïve Narrator

Before the narrator's fateful change of personality in chapter 11, the narrator had shown few signs of development. He has been entranced by the reward of becoming successful in a white man's world to the point that he ignores how he is treated. He accepts insult after insult, torture after torture, only for the approval of those in power, who are mostly white. He refuses to believe the words of his grandfather, that he must be "a spy in the enemy's country". However, this slowly changes throughout the chapters we have read so far. Through a harsh series of events, he is finally able to realize the lesson that he had known from the very beginning, but had never believed: his grandfather was right all along.

We have only seen a couple characters recognize this odd behavior and warn against it. Those being Dr. Bledsoe, the Vet, and Young Emerson. Dr. Bledsoe and the Vet being the only ones that have invisibility. The Vet is the first one to introduce the fact that no one really sees others as they truly are. He shows the narrator that he has been looking at Mr. Norton and other powerful white men as almost godlike. The Vet is so disillusioned while the narrator is completely delusional. However, sadly, the narrator brushes this insightful truth because of the fact that the Vet is a patient at an insane asylum. He cannot believe the fact that the Vet is so sane and the narrator himself may be the insane one. The Vet sees the narrator again on his way to New York, but this time he only talks about the freedom that the narrator would feel when he would arrive in New York. The Vet plays an important role, despite the narrator not noticing, in introducing the narrator to invisibility. The narrator needs to realize at this point that these powerful rich white people do not see the narrator as a threat to their power or wealth.

Dr. Bledsoe is maybe the opposite of the Vet in many ways. Firstly, the narrator actually would like to be in Bledsoe's position, he has power and material wealth. But that seems to be where the desirable qualities of Bledsoe's life end. While Bledsoe tries to cure the situation with Mr. Norton that the narrator has caused, we get to see the behind-the-scenes of Bledsoe's life. Bledsoe is all about hiding who he truly is to appeal to the white college sponsors. He puts on a facade whenever he must interact with them, and become a completely different person. While the Vet lives totally genuine and free, Bledsoe is trapped within his gilded prison. The narrator is completely shocked to see all of this, yet he still will not take Bledsoe or the Vet's advice. He still has not fully comprehended the fact that his grandfather was right. 

When the narrator finally arrives in New York and has been applying for jobs he meets Emerson's son. The Young Emerson is the one that finally disillusions the narrator. Up until this point in the story, the narrator still cannot even comprehend that he can be disingenuous, and that may even be the only way that he can be successful in life, or even improve the conditions that Black America must live in. Young Emerson shows the narrator the letter from Bledsoe and the narrator finally sees clearly and is almost driven into madness. This leads us to the point where the narrator is, just before his life-changing incident. The narrator finally wants to act for himself and have an alternative agenda that is unknown to any white man that he is now invisible to.