laughing and moaning are reflective of the which originates from the “black/blue” dynamic Louis Armstrong song, and which, in many ways become the framework for the novel. Blueness is the negative side; worn and torn; the color of bruises, the moaning of the blues singers and the congregation. We often use the word blue as being synonymous with depression. The blackness, on the other hand, is smiles, laughs, and the entertainer figure. At the same time the obvious ramifications of being black in Western society carry with them a kind of adversity. The inescapable blackness experienced by the narrator, what causes him to be invisible, is reminiscent of the in which black males are stereotyped into the “Sambo” Image, role of cheery and funny entertainers (Boskin 7-8). Invisible man is even called during “Sambo” the battle scene in the first chapter. What invisible man realizes is that seeming to conform to the expectations of his identity placed upon him by the Sambo image is, rather ironically, his only chance at survival. This, in essence, is the message that his grandfather had tried to convey to him in the befuddling array of advice that appears in the beginning of the novel, which invisible man claims haunts him throughout his life. His dying grandfather of his “had spoken meekness as a narrator to with yeses, undermine dangerous activity,” telling our “overcome ‘em with grins, agree to deth and destruction, let swoller you till they vomit or bust ‘em ‘em ‘em (Invisible 16). It is not until the end of the novel that invisible man is able to Man, wide open” make sense of this advice, that his only chance is overwhelming optimism and complacency. In doing this he learns he can, paradoxically, form his own agency, which he eventually does through writing, giving his own shape and meaning to his experience, through the lens of humor that is both black and blue. Most notably, the paradigm takes material form in the cast-iron bank of a “Sambo” “very black, red-lipped and wide-mouthed (Invisible 319) which the narrator finds at Negro” Man
laughing and moaning are reflective of the “black/blue” dynamic which originates from the Louis Armstrong song, and which, in many ways become the framework for the novel. Blueness is the negative side; worn and torn; the color of bruises, the moaning of the blues singers and the congregation. We often use the word blue as being synonymous with depression. The blackness, on the other hand, is smiles, laughs, and the entertainer figure. At the same time the obvious ramifications of being black in Western society carry with them a kind of adversity. The inescapable blackness experienced by the narrator, what causes him to be invisible, is reminiscent of the “Sambo” Image, in which black males are stereotyped into the role of cheery and funny entertainers (Boskin 7-8). Invisible man is even called “Sambo” during the battle scene in the first chapter. What invisible man realizes is that seeming to conform to the expectations of his identity placed upon him by the Sambo image is, rather ironically, his only chance at survival. This, in essence, is the message that his grandfather had tried to convey to him in the befuddling array of advice that appears in the beginning of the novel, which invisible man claims haunts him throughout his life. His dying grandfather “had spoken of his meekness as a dangerous activity,” telling our narrator to “overcome ‘em with yeses, undermine ‘em with grins, agree ‘em to deth and destruction, let ‘em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open” (Invisible Man, 16). It is not until the end of the novel that invisible man is able to make sense of this advice, that his only chance is overwhelming optimism and complacency. In doing this he learns he can, paradoxically, form his own agency, which he eventually does through writing, giving his own shape and meaning to his experience, through the lens of humor that is both black and blue. Most notably, the “Sambo” paradigm takes material form in the cast-iron bank of a “very black, red-lipped and wide-mouthed Negro” (Invisible Man 319) which the narrator finds at
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