Bledsoe's Rise to Power

Dr. Bledsoe has played in a significant role in the book thus far. Yet, as the reader has noticed, Bledsoe is not the typical or traditional leader. We learned early on that Bledsoe rose to power in the way we would imagine most figures starting at: with nothing. On page 116, it describes how Bledsoe rose from power from nothing, starting with a job " feeding slop to the hogs." (116) Yet, the Founder of the school because impressed, and made him his office boy, and he rose from power there. This, to me, is somewhat connected to Moses' rise to "power". As a young boy, he was abandoned, and sent down the river for someone else to raise. Yet, the people that he came across was the Pharaoh of Egypt's family. He was raised through royalty, and manipulation of the royal family to treat the people of Egypt poorly.

Yet, the difference between Moses and Dr. Bledsoe is that Moses recognized that his "family" was manipulative, and deceiving those below them. Because of this, Moses decided to break away and lead the slaves of Egypt to freedom. Dr Bledsoe, however, loves his power, and would never dare give it up. Instead, he continues to manipulate his position in power, as he manipulated to get there.

Even though, to the students, it appears that Bledsoe is a "savior" as Moses is, the readers see how manipulative is when he is expelling the invisible man. On page 139, Dr. Bledsoe tells the invisible man that he needs to "lie" to the whites. "Please him? And here you are a junior in college! Why, the dumbest black bastard in the cotton patch knows that the only way to please a white man is to tell him a lie! What kind of education are you getting around here?" (139). Here, Bledsoe is essentially saying that to become successful, one needs to lie and manipulate, especially to white people. This perfectly explains how Bledsoe came to power, and why he believes to whole-heartedly in this philosophy.