Invisible Man, Chapter 6 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Why does Dr. Bledsoe expel the narrator from the college?

   • The narrator openly challenged Bledsoe's authority in front of other students
   • Correct answer: The narrator allowed Mr. Norton to witness Trueblood's poverty and the Golden Day chaos
   • The narrator failed his academic courses and did not meet the college's standards
   • The narrator deliberately sabotaged a campus event attended by white trustees

   Bledsoe expels the narrator because he allowed the white trustee Norton to see Trueblood's cabin and the disorder at the Golden Day, threatening the carefully managed image Bledsoe has constructed for the college.

   Read the passage
2. 2

   Question 2. What does Bledsoe say the narrator should have done when Norton asked to visit the surrounding area?

   • Refused Norton's request outright and driven back to campus immediately
   • Told Norton that Bledsoe had forbidden students from leaving campus grounds
   • Correct answer: Redirected Norton without the trustee ever realizing he was being managed
   • Reported Norton's request to Bledsoe before taking any action at all

   Bledsoe argues that a truly competent person would have skillfully steered Norton away from Trueblood's cabin and the Golden Day without Norton ever realizing he had been diverted.

   Read the passage
3. 3

   Question 3. How many sealed letters does Bledsoe give the narrator?

   • Three letters addressed to college alumni in the South
   • Five letters addressed to prominent Black leaders in Harlem
   • Correct answer: Seven letters addressed to white trustees and contacts in New York
   • Nine letters addressed to various colleges across the Northeast

   Bledsoe provides seven sealed letters addressed to white trustees and contacts in New York City, telling the narrator they will help him find employment.

   Read the passage
4. 4

   Question 4. What object does Bledsoe keep on his desk and toy with during the confrontation?

   • A framed photograph of the college's founding father and first students
   • Correct answer: An antique slave shackle that he displays as a symbol of Black progress
   • A worn Bible that belonged to the college's original spiritual leader
   • A brass paperweight engraved with the college's founding motto and date

   Bledsoe toys with an antique slave shackle on his desk, which he uses as a prop to symbolize Black progress to white visitors, though it carries darker symbolic implications about continuing forms of bondage.

   Read the passage
5. 5

   Question 5. What advice does the veteran doctor give the narrator at the bus station?

   • He tells the narrator to return to the college immediately and demand readmission
   • Correct answer: He urges the narrator to be his own father and play the game on his own terms
   • He warns the narrator to avoid New York entirely and head west instead
   • He advises the narrator to open the sealed letters and read their real contents

   The veteran tells the narrator to learn to be his own father, to stop looking to institutions and authority figures for validation, and to play the game of life on his own terms rather than as a tool of others.

   Read the passage
6. 6

   Question 6. Why is the veteran doctor being transferred from the Golden Day?

   • He voluntarily requested a transfer to be closer to his family members
   • His medical license was revoked due to malpractice at the veterans' facility
   • Correct answer: It is implied he is being punished for his disruptive behavior during Norton's visit
   • He was caught stealing medications from the Golden Day's supply cabinet

   The veteran's transfer is implied to be a punishment for his role in the chaotic scene during Norton's visit to the Golden Day, paralleling the narrator's own expulsion.

   Read the passage
7. 7

   Question 7. How does the narrator react to the veteran's advice?

   • He angrily rejects it because he blames the veteran for his predicament
   • Correct answer: He listens politely but cannot truly absorb the wisdom, still trusting Bledsoe
   • He takes it deeply to heart and immediately begins questioning the letters
   • He ignores the veteran entirely and refuses to acknowledge his presence

   The narrator listens respectfully but cannot truly hear the veteran's warning. He remains too invested in the system that expelled him, too loyal to Bledsoe, and too innocent to question the sealed letters.

   Read the passage
8. 8

   Question 8. What earlier symbol do the sealed letters parallel in the novel?

   • The golden coins thrown during the smoker in the Prologue and Chapter 1
   • The blindfold placed on the narrator during the battle royal ceremony
   • Correct answer: The briefcase given to the narrator after the battle royal in Chapter 1
   • The calfskin wallet that Mr. Norton carries throughout his campus visit

   The sealed letters echo the briefcase from Chapter 1. Both are containers whose contents the narrator accepts on faith, and both ultimately carry messages of betrayal rather than genuine advancement.

   Read the passage
9. 9

   Question 9. Which of the following events actually happens in Chapter 6?

   • The narrator opens one of the sealed letters and discovers its true contents
   • Correct answer: The narrator takes a farewell walk across the moonlit campus before leaving
   • Mr. Norton intervenes on the narrator's behalf and overrules Bledsoe's decision
   • Bledsoe publicly announces the narrator's expulsion at a college assembly

   Before departing, the narrator wanders the campus one final time, absorbing the beauty of the moonlit grounds and grieving the loss of the world that has defined his identity.

   Read the passage
10. 10

    Question 10. Which of the following does NOT happen in Chapter 6?

    • Bledsoe criticizes the narrator for blindly obeying Norton's request to visit Trueblood
    • The veteran doctor predicts specific events that will happen to the narrator in New York
    • Correct answer: The narrator confronts Bledsoe about the contents of the sealed letters
    • The narrator boards a bus bound for New York carrying the sealed letters

    The narrator never confronts Bledsoe about the letters' contents in this chapter. He accepts them on faith without opening or questioning them, which is central to the dramatic irony of the scene.

    Read the passage
11. 11

    Question 11. In the context of Chapter 6, what does "deference" mean when describing Bledsoe's behavior toward white trustees?

    • Genuine admiration and respect for their superior moral character and leadership
    • Correct answer: Strategic, respectful submission performed to maintain his own hidden power
    • Reluctant compliance born from personal fear of losing his financial income
    • Enthusiastic cooperation motivated by shared educational goals and academic values

    Bledsoe's deference is a calculated performance of respectful submission before white trustees. It is not genuine respect but a strategic mask that allows him to maintain his own power behind the scenes.

    Read the passage
12. 12

    Question 12. What does it mean that the slave shackle on Bledsoe's desk is a "multivalent" symbol?

    • It has only one fixed meaning that all characters agree upon and understand equally
    • It is an expensive antique that increases in monetary value over the passage of time
    • Correct answer: It carries multiple simultaneous meanings depending on who is interpreting the object
    • It was originally used by multiple slaveholders before ending up in Bledsoe's collection

    A multivalent symbol carries many meanings simultaneously. The shackle represents Black progress to white visitors, pragmatic power to Bledsoe, and continuing bondage to the reader, all at the same time.

    Read the passage
13. 13

    Question 13. When the chapter describes Bledsoe's "cynicism," what quality is being identified?

    • His sincere sadness about the limitations placed on Black institutions in America
    • Correct answer: His distrust of human goodness and belief that self-interest drives all behavior
    • His intellectual curiosity about the philosophical foundations of racial inequality
    • His emotional detachment caused by years of personal hardship and academic isolation

    Bledsoe's cynicism is his attitude of distrust toward genuine human goodness. He operates on the assumption that power is maintained through manipulation and self-interest, not through virtue or moral principle.

    Read the passage