Power and Control

Throughout The Invisible Man the the overbearing theme of powder provides an influential backdrop as it displays divisions bewtween races (and within races) during the post-slavery era. The definition underlying the requirements of power was most opbviously seen in Dr. Bledsoe's converstation with the Invisible man. Speaking of power as being "self-assuring, self-starting,and self-stopping, self-warming and self-justifying" (142) Dr. Bledsoe cearly outlines that power is entirely "self" created. The repetition of "self"(142) coupled with the repetitve use of "I"(142), in Dr.Bledsoe's speech tells the reader, that this power struggle concoted by the ladder of social standing in America is purely "self" created, as one can only climb to power if they believe in themselves and they create a notion of "power" for others. According to Dr. Bledsoe's defintion, the African American can only rely on themselves to "rise" up in the racist society and establish themselves among ther powerful in America. Although, the white race may believe they control "the power set-up"(142), Dr. Bledsoe believes it is merely a game in the shoots and ladders of societal inclusion.
Although power is most noticably seen and interpreted by Dr. Bledsoe, the theme of power is seen in The Invisible Man before it is directly mentioned. The struggle between the powerful adn the powerless is constantly traced as Ellison developes the history of the social structure in American society. In the first chapter of the novel Ellison uses the story of The Invisible man's boxing match in front of the white affluent men of his town, to demostrate the extremes of the "power set-up" Dr. Bledsoe decribes later in the novel. During this boxing match all of the men are blindfolded and forced to aimlesslly hit the air hoping to actually hit one another. As the invisible man claims he is in a state of "blind terror"(21) and feels like "blind cautius crabs" (23) Ellison sets the tone to depict the powerlessness of the African American race during post-slavery era. As the affluent white men scream and look over the blind boxers the "power structure" is intricatly shown and sets up the powerful yet ruthless symbol of the white race for the novel.
This power set-up is also depicted through the character of Trueblood. Since Trueblood only gains the respect of the white race and the denial of the black race when he shows himself to be truly powerless, his story is a generalization of the realities of social power. Trueblood is powerless over the situation he created and the consequences of his situation. This powerlessness welcomed by the white race presents the power set-up run by the white's need to keep the african americans "down" in society. The theme of power vs powerless also correlates to the ideals of Booker T washington and WEB Dubois shown within the book. Both these influential African American leaders used their power to fight for the best way they believed African Americans could use and gain their power. Although extremly opposing positions on how their race would rise above from the powerless to the powerful, their ideals are constantly seen within the novel showing historically power was one of the largest topics within the African American community post-slavery.
The power complex created by Ellison in The Invisible Man is similarily seen in all three other books, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest, A confederacy of Dunces and The Shawshank Redemption. The fight of power vs powerless is something seen through all forms of imprisonment as powerlessness is directly related to the creation of imprisonment. Ultimatly, power is key as it is the only means for an escape from imprisoning force.