The Price of Visibility

"Social..."
"What?" They yelled.
"...equality--" (Pg 31)

This is a fragment of the speech delivered by he speaker in chapter 1, while he was being surrounded by white men in the battle royal. The word "equality" caused commotion among the audience, who had spend the first part of the speech laughing, talking and ignoring the orator. The change of attitude of the listeners reflect a transition from invisibility to visibility, which is feared by the main character. Even though his objective was to shine and appear brilliant among the white men, he still keeps his invisibility coat by writing a speech that would please their race. As soon as he accidentally says his true opinion (race equality), he feels the weight of his words and regrets it. The only time he gets to be actually visible in front of others, he feels afraid and returns to his inferior position.

Through this scene, Ellison exhibits the complex situation of the character and his people in that era. Even though they want to rebel against their opressors, fear dominates them, for which they decide to shut themselves away and remain invisible.