The Vet Sets Them Straight

Notice how in this scene, the vet and the narrator have no name (blacks) while Mr. Norton does (white). It is almost as if the two blacks were invisible. They are so trivial, that no name is necessary. This also shows how blacks were interchangeable. A black was a part of a larger group, while a white was an individual.

However, it is the vet who makes interesting comments about Mr. Norton, the narrator, and the school. The vet accuses the narrator of "registering with his senses but short-circuiting his brain." (94) Just like the title implies, blacks, represented by the nameless narrator, have been quieted into humans who live their lives as invisible men, not changing anything or having any effect in their worlds. Similarly, the vet accuses Mr. Norton of wanting a "mechanical man" as a "perfect achievement of your dreams," talking about whites. (94) According to him, blacks' attitude is the whites' fault, but blacks aren't doing anything to change it. Blacks have reached the point of repressing their humanity, ignoring their needs as people in order to please the needs of the "rich white folks."

When coming back from the Golden Day, the narrator is so scared that he can't stop thinking about his punishment while he drives. He "had a sense of losing control of the car and slammed on the brakes in the middle of the road, then apologized and drove on." (99) This road simulates the narrator's road of life. In college, he began to realize how his race was losing control of their own lives, yet he "apologizes"to the white, feels bad for his thoughts, and drives on. The narrator is almost brainwashed, knowing that he was losing all the identity he had ever known, but having no strength to claim it back.

Ralph Ellison uses a pun to amplify the distinction between the whites and the blacks. When the narrator recounts about Dr. Bledsoe's scolding for the fate of Mr. Norton, he describes him as having a "look of exasperation, as though I'd suddenly told him black was white." (102) This is a general way of claiming the impossibility of something being two opposites at a time. However, Ellison uses this in the sense of black people being equal to white people. The look of "exasperation" in Dr. Bledsoe's face represents the fear of even blacks of having to discuss the issue of equality. The invisible men accept their lower place in society, which is exactly what the vet had advised the narrator against doing.