Invisible Man, Prologue quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Why does the narrator describe himself as "invisible" in the Prologue?

   • He has a medical condition that makes him physically transparent to others
   • He has chosen to live in hiding and avoid all contact with other people
   • Correct answer: Other people refuse to see him as a full human being because of racial prejudice
   • He is using a metaphor for his poverty and lack of material possessions

   The narrator explains that his invisibility is social and psychological, not physical. White society's prejudice causes others to look through him rather than at him.

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2. 2

   Question 2. How many light bulbs has the narrator installed in his underground home?

   • Exactly 1,000 bulbs to symbolize a new millennium of awareness
   • Correct answer: Exactly 1,369 bulbs, all blazing continuously day and night
   • Exactly 1,776 bulbs as a reference to American independence
   • Exactly 1,500 bulbs arranged in a pattern across his ceiling

   The narrator has strung exactly 1,369 light bulbs on his ceiling, all burning at once, powered by electricity stolen from Monopolated Light & Power.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What happens during the narrator's encounter with the tall, blond man on the street?

   • The blond man recognizes the narrator and they have a philosophical debate
   • The narrator insults the blond man, who responds by calling the police
   • Correct answer: The narrator bumps into him, is insulted, and attacks him nearly to death
   • The blond man attacks the narrator first, and the narrator defends himself

   The narrator bumps into the man on a dark street, the man calls him an insulting name, and the narrator attacks him savagely before regaining his senses.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Whose music does the narrator listen to during his hallucinatory experience?

   • Duke Ellington's "Take the A Train" on a borrowed record player
   • Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" on a radio broadcast from upstairs
   • Correct answer: Louis Armstrong's "What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue" on his phonograph
   • Bessie Smith's "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" on a gramophone

   The narrator listens to Louis Armstrong's recording of "What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue," which serves as a gateway into deeper layers of consciousness.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What does the narrator mean by describing his underground existence as "hibernation"?

   • He is sleeping through the winter months and plans to emerge in spring
   • Correct answer: He is withdrawing in covert preparation for future action, not in defeat
   • He has permanently given up on society and plans to remain underground forever
   • He is recovering from a serious physical illness that requires prolonged rest

   The narrator explicitly states that hibernation is not death but a covert preparation for action. He is gathering his thoughts and energy for reengagement with the world.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What is the subject of the sermon the narrator hears during his hallucinatory vision?

   • A warning about the dangers of living underground and in darkness
   • Correct answer: A call-and-response sermon on "the Blackness of Blackness" full of paradoxes
   • A traditional church sermon about redemption and the path to salvation
   • A political speech about the civil rights movement and racial equality

   A Black preacher delivers a call-and-response sermon on "the Blackness of Blackness" that spirals through paradoxes, echoing Ecclesiastes and the African American preaching tradition.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What literary allusion does "Call me Jack-the-Bear" make in the Prologue?

   • It references the trickster figure of Br'er Bear from African American folklore
   • Correct answer: It echoes "Call me Ishmael" from Herman Melville's Moby Dick
   • It alludes to the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears from fairy tales
   • It refers to Jack London's wilderness novels about survival and identity

   The phrase echoes the famous opening of Moby Dick, "Call me Ishmael," situating Invisible Man within the tradition of great American novels about identity and alienation.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does the narrator's theft of electricity from Monopolated Light & Power symbolize?

   • His criminal nature and tendency toward dishonesty and deception
   • His practical resourcefulness in finding ways to survive underground cheaply
   • Correct answer: His subversion of the institutional power structures that deny his existence
   • His desire to waste the resources of the utility company out of pure spite

   The stolen electricity symbolizes the narrator's subversive relationship with institutional power. Monopolated Light & Power represents the systems that deny his humanity, and taking its power is an act of defiance.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur in the Prologue of Invisible Man?

   • The narrator attacks a tall, blond man who insults him on a dark street.

     Happened

   • The narrator listens to Louis Armstrong while experiencing a hallucinatory vision.

     Happened

   • The narrator is arrested by police after the street attack and spends a night in jail.

     Didn't happen

   • The narrator describes his ceiling of 1,369 light bulbs powered by stolen electricity.

     Happened

   • The narrator receives a letter from his grandfather explaining the meaning of invisibility.

     Didn't happen

   • The newspaper reports the street attack as a mugging without identifying the narrator.

     Happened

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10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these occur during the narrator's hallucinatory vision in the Prologue?

    • He hears a preacher deliver a sermon on "the Blackness of Blackness."

      Happened

    • He encounters a woman at a slave auction who both loves and hates her master.

      Happened

    • He meets his grandfather who gives him advice about how to fight white people.

      Didn't happen

    • He speaks with an old woman who poisoned her master who was also the father of her children.

      Happened

    • He watches Louis Armstrong perform live on a stage made of pure light.

      Didn't happen

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does "ambivalence" mean as it relates to the old woman's feelings in the Prologue?

    • A complete lack of any emotional response to a significant experience
    • Correct answer: The state of having mixed or contradictory feelings about something
    • An overwhelming sense of grief and sorrow that cannot be controlled
    • A deliberate choice to suppress all emotions for the sake of survival

    Ambivalence means holding contradictory feelings simultaneously. The old woman in the vision embodies this — she both loved and hated her master, reflecting the complex emotional reality of slavery.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does the narrator mean by calling his underground life "covert preparation"?

    • A military operation planned in secret with other underground activists
    • Correct answer: A hidden, secret process of readying himself for future action in the world
    • An openly declared intention to return to public life after a fixed period
    • A psychological therapy technique he learned from a doctor before going underground

    Covert means hidden or secret. The narrator uses it to describe his hibernation as a concealed period of preparation — he is not defeated but gathering himself for reengagement with society.

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13. 13

    Question 13. In the Prologue, what does "paradox" describe about the "Blackness of Blackness" sermon?

    • A simple, straightforward message delivered in plain and direct language
    • Correct answer: A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless contain truth
    • A historical reference to a specific event in African American history
    • A type of musical rhythm common in call-and-response church traditions

    A paradox is a statement that seems self-contradictory but reveals a deeper truth. The sermon spirals through paradoxes about Blackness — it is everything and nothing, beginning and end — reflecting the complexity of Black identity.

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