What is invisibility in The Invisible Man?

 What makes one "invisible"? What does being invisible even mean in a novel all about an invisible man? The answer to these questions have the ability to define what kind of message the novel The Invisible Man is sending, but based on class discussions, there’s a wide variety of ways to interpret these questions. 

If invisibility is simply defined by whether people see you, the you at your core, the you that hasn't put on any mask or front - then I think very few people in the novel even approach being truly visible. Most characters are playing some part, putting on some show for the people around them, subconsciously or not. Norton in his benevolence and apparent generosity, Bledsoe with his blatant mask, the Brotherhood in most of their policies. It’s like the only way to attempt to be visible is if you have no ambition or stake in society, as you won’t get very far without catering to or taking advantage other people’s views to present yourself as something your not.

But even then, I think it’s tough to call someone really visible. A large part of the narrator’s frustration with his invisibility is that it’s forced upon him by other people refusing to see him for who he is - in this sense, invisibility isn’t something that is controlled by the person themselves, but by the biased perceptions or preconceived notions other people have of them. The narrator isn’t trying to be invisible, he really really wants to be visible, but other people just look at him and automatically drop him in a box in their head. This almost paints an even bleaker image of invisibility to me, since you have almost no control over it at that point - your always going to be invisible to some people. 

But I don’t think it’s just a “oh everyone is invisible equally” kind of thing either - invisibility comes in many different appearances and affects people in very different ways. Some people have the ability - whether because of race, class, or some other factor - to benefit from their invisibility, while having to give up very little. Many of the characters just don’t seem to care at all about invisibility, which is jarring after reading a couple hundred pages of the narrator obsessing over his invisibility. Bledsoe certainly doesn’t seem to care, and the narrator sees Rinehart has thriving in his invisibility, gaining freedom from it in some ways due to his ability to control how others see fake-him.

I think an interesting question is not necessarily whether one is visible or not, but how that invisibility affects them, and the role things like race plays in that. The narrator, as a black person, suffers greatly from others’ preconceived, racist and stereotyped image of him. He’s constantly being boiled down to just his race, or an aspect of his race, instead of being seen as his own person. Bledsoe, while benefiting from his invisibility and not seeming bothered by it, is only putting on his front because he has no other way of gaining and retaining power due to him being a black man, who’s college is supported by a large base of rich, old white men. Similarly, Brockway appears fine with his much more literal invisible status - they’ve herded him away into the basement and he gets no recognition - but the only reason he’s treated like that is because he’s a black, uneducated man (in the sense that he hasn’t gone to college and earned a degree for his field of work). People like Norton, Jack, and Emerson, on the other hand, have much more room to work with on how they can interact with the world. Others’ perception doesn’t control them as much, doesn’t play as large of a part in their lives, while the black characters’ options and identities are stifled by others’ inability to actually see them, or are forced to make themselves more invisible in order to succeed in society.