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Metaphors
Definition of Mood
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect of a piece of writing... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes... read full definition
Prologue
Explanation and Analysis:
The mood of Invisible Man is both frustrated and mirthful. The unnamed narrator has a highly cynical worldview due to his experiences of oppression, exploitation, and betrayal at the hands of various institutions and organizations, from the university he attends on a scholarship to the political party that he joins after his expulsion. However, his deep feelings of frustration are often accompanied by a strong feeling of mirthful amusement. In the prologue of the novel, for example, he describes his experience of beating up a white man who insulted him in the street:
He lay there, moaning on the asphalt; a man almost killed by a phantom. It unnerved me. I was both disgusted and ashamed. I was like a drunken man myself, wavering about on weakened legs. Then I was amused: Something in this man’s thick head had sprung out and beaten him within an inch of his life. I began to laugh at this crazy discovery. Would he have awakened at the point of death? Would Death himself have freed him for wakeful living? But I didn’t linger. I ran away into the dark, laughing so hard I feared I might rupture myself.
After attacking the man, the narrator tries to imagine this incident from the man’s perspective. He concludes that this must be inexplicable to the man, who had barely perceived him due to his “invisible” status as a Black man. Thinking of himself from the man’s perspective, as a “phantom,” he first feels “disgusted and ashamed” but then, later, “amused” by this notion. Despite his earlier feeling of wrath, he begins to laugh as he walks away from the scene. The tone of this passage, which combines genuine frustration with a cynical humor, characterizes the novel at large.
Related Themes:
