Character Analysis of Invisible Man Essay Example

In the novel The Invisible Man, the intricate details reveal a deeper meaning to the overall story and its message. One significant example of this, are characters’ names in the novels. Each one of these characters has a specific name that tells a story about themselves. This is essential in understanding the full meaning of the characters in the novel. Characters such as Jim Trueblood, Sybil, and Rinehart have significant meaning to their name which aligns with their roles and personalities within the novel. 

Jim Trueblood’s characterization and incestual actions led to a lot of reactions from both the white and black communities. For the black community, Trueblood’s incestual actions led them to disown him from the community.  An example of this in the novel is when it states, “It was the cabin of Jim Trueblood, a sharecropper who had brought disgrace upon the black community.” This reaction from the black community was what Trueblood was expecting. When the black community started to confront him about what he did, they asked him multiple moral questions about how he felt about it. Once Mr. Norton, the trustee of the black college that TIM is attending,  found out about what Trueblood did, he was shocked and started to question his morals. “You feel no inner turmoil, no need to cast out the offending eye?"  This demonstrates how the black community felt about his actions, they saw him as utterly revolting.  Since Mr. Norton was the trustee of the black college, he was disappointed that a black man such as Trueblood would do such a horrendous thing.  On the other hand, the white community gave the complete opposite reaction. They showered him with money and gifts because he would have another mouth to feed.  This was shown when Trueblood said, “Even the biggity school folks up on the hill, only there was a catch to it! They offered to send us clean outta the county, pay our way and everything and give me a hundred dollars to get settled with.” This demonstrates how the white community reinforced the perception that black men were seen as bad. To white society, this black man was a perfect stereotype as to why black people are viewed as dangerous and sexual predators. With Trueblood having sex with his daughter, it was the perfect storm. His last name, Trueblood, tells the whole story. He is true to his black blood. 

Another instance that a character had a name that had a significant meaning was Sybil. In the novel, Sybil was a woman who wanted to have sex with TIM. Sybil also had a fantasy where she wanted to be raped by a black man. Sybil then said "You can do it, it'll be easy for you, beautiful. Threaten to kill me if I don't give in. You know, talk rough to me, beautiful.”  This shows that since TIM was a black man, he was already perceived as an aggressive, sexual predator.  Since he was viewed as a sexual predator, this would make it easy for him to apply the role and rape a white woman. At heart, this is not who TIM was, he was a man that wanted to further the overall goals of black society, Even though TIM did not want to rape Sybil, he was going to manipulate her and give the illusion that he would do it. This is shown when he says, "It'll be better after you've had a drink, more realistic." After Sybil had a few drinks and TIM was telling her stories about what supposedly happened, even though TIM did not do any of it. The irony of this is that her name means a virgin that is able to truthfully predict the future. Although she is no virgin, she is able to predict the truth about black society. She is able to predict that a black man will become aggressive for sex. Even though TIM does not rape Sybil, he makes her believe that she did. This perpetuates the negative stereotype of sexual aggression in black males. For Sybil to have a rape fantasy and then TIM having to carry it out, just leads to more problems seen by society. 

One of the characters that has one of the most interesting names and personalities is Rinehart. The first part of his name, Rine, is similar to the rind of a fruit, which is the exterior protective covering. This shows that whatever is on the outside of Rinehart is not important since he hides who he truly is. Rinehart is a man of many things, as the novel states “Rine the runner and Rine the gambler and Rine the briber and Rine the lover and Rinehart the Reverend.” All of these external things are different, making them not important as to what his internal intentions are. It is hard to determine what the internal intentions of Rinehart are because of how many different things he portrays on the outside.  The novel brings attention to this by asking, “Could he himself be both rind and heart?” It is only important as to what he is on the inside because many different things go into the overall makeup of Rinehart’s external persona. The next part of his name, Hart, also tells its own story. Although his ‘rind’ is composed of many things, he is still a person who cares about the people that come to him. He is still able to preach about the things he cares about which people love about him. The congregation follows him for his heart and what he has to say about important topics, not all of his other external traits. 

Diving deeper into the meanings of characters’ names who are very important in the novel provides depth to the overall story.  Characters such as Jim Trueblood, Sybil, and Rinehart all tell a meaningful story just by their names. Knowing the meaning of their names and how they relate to their role in the novel is essential to the full message of the novel.