Invisible Man Narrator Quotes

Narrator

Quote 73

Then I became aware of the clarinet playing and the big shots yelling at us. Some threatened us if we looked and others if we did not. (1.8)

In the novel, the black men face a double standard of being seen as either hypersexual or asexual objects.

Narrator

Quote 74

Another boy began to plead to go home. He was the largest of the group, wearing dark red fighting trunks much too small to conceal the erection which projected from him as though in answer to the insinuating low-registered moaning of the clarinet. He tried to hide himself with the boxing gloves. (1.8)

This young black man is ashamed of his physical attraction to the naked woman. He doesn't want his sexuality to be a source of entertainment for the white men.

Narrator

Quote 75

I noticed a certain merchant who followed her hungrily, his lips loose and drooling. He was a large man who wore diamond studs in a shirtfront which swelled with the ample paunch underneath, and each time the blonde swayed her undulating hips he ran his hand through the thin hair of his bald head and, with his arms upheld, his posture clumsy like that of an intoxicated panda, wound his belly in a slow and obscene grind. (1.9)

Unlike the embarrassed black boys, the white men openly display their vulgar attraction for the naked woman.