The scene with Mr. Norton in Invisible Man was really strange. Firstly, it exposed the great disparity between whites and blacks during those times. Furthermore, it showed that Mr. Norton has some underlying intriguing, if not creepy, desires. He discusses the beauty and pureness of his daughter. When I first read the section, I felt as if his love was more than just family love; instead, I sensed some sexual tension. My hunches were confirmed after learning about Trueblood’s story. I am fascinated more by Trueblood than by Mr. Norton. Particularly, Trueblood’s dream was especially unique and weird. The first thing I noticed that it was a “big, white bedroom.” It was almost as if Trueblood had entered a very pure and heavenly state, which is very different from the physical state he was in. Furthermore, everything in the room “was white.” Perhaps, the white refers to the own difference between blacks and whites. Trueblood may aspire to have the privileges of being white.

There is also a lot of explicit sexual imagery in the story. For example, Trueblood says “I tries to git out.” Thus, his words in the dream parallel his own wishes when he is awake. Even more, the fact that he says “git” instead of “get” shows that Trueblood is uneducated, and, as an uneducated man, commits a heinous crime. However, Mr. Norton is simply listening with a great fascination and almost desire. He seems to be sickly fulfilling his own fantasy with his daughter through Trueblood’s story. Still, back to the dream, I wonder what the lady in the story signifies. Is she a representation of Trueblood’s daughter? Is it important that she is white? Does she signify a forbidden desire for Trueblood, or even all black men? The lady reminds me of the first seedy girl with the American flag painted on her. It seems, at least in these sections, that the white women represent the ideal beauty for the black men (probably because they are forbidden women).

The next odd part comes when the lady starts screaming, and Trueblood goes deaf. I think that the deafness parallels to the invisibility that the narrator feels. There is no communication between the lady and Trueblood in the same way that the invisible man has decided to have no communication with others. Then, after Trueblood wakes out of his dream, everything becomes a mess. Why does Mr. Norton get so faint at hearing the story? While I at first thought that the sheer sickness of the story affected him, I think that, as mentioned before, it has mostly to do with his sexual feelings for his daughter. In addition, Mr. Norton continues to feel faint because of his presence with the black, rambunctious crowd. I thought it was really interesting that, even in the bar, Mr. Norton kept discussing how his destiny lied in the black people. More than destiny, Mr. Norton tries to exert control over the narrator. I wonder what kind of attitude the narrator will adopt to Mr. Norton in the end.