Chapter 17 Practice Quiz — Invisible Man
by Ralph Ellison — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 17
What position is the narrator appointed to in Chapter 17?
Chief spokesman of the Brotherhood's Harlem District, a role he assumes after months of studying the organization's ideology downtown.
Who takes the narrator to see his new Harlem office?
Brother Jack, the Brotherhood's white leader, drives the narrator to Harlem and introduces him to his new role and colleagues.
Who is Brother Tarp?
An elderly Black man who works in the narrator's new Harlem office. He greets the narrator warmly and becomes one of his genuine allies within the Brotherhood.
What is Tod Clifton's role in the Brotherhood?
He is the youth director for the Harlem District, a charismatic and physically impressive young Black man who becomes the narrator's key ally in organizing Harlem.
How does the narrator initially perceive Tod Clifton?
He initially sees Clifton as a potential rival for leadership in Harlem, but quickly realizes Clifton is not interested in personal political power and relaxes into a collaborative relationship.
Who is Ras the Exhorter?
A militant Black nationalist street orator who preaches racial separatism and African unity. He is the Brotherhood's chief ideological opponent in Harlem.
What event does the narrator organize to build the Brotherhood's presence in Harlem?
He stages a street rally modeled after the kind of outdoor rallies he has seen Ras the Exhorter give, with Tod Clifton helping him organize it.
What happens when the narrator holds his street rally?
Ras the Exhorter and his followers appear and violently disrupt the rally, leading to a physical confrontation between the Brotherhood members and Ras's men.
What happens during the fight between Clifton and Ras?
Ras pins Clifton and draws a knife to kill him, but ultimately refuses to do so because he cannot bring himself to kill a fellow Black man. He pleads with Clifton to leave the Brotherhood.
What argument does Ras make to Clifton during their confrontation?
Ras argues that Clifton is a traitor to his race for working with white people in the Brotherhood, and warns that the white members will eventually betray him. He appeals to racial solidarity over class-based ideology.
What does the Brotherhood's ideology emphasize?
The Brotherhood emphasizes an interracial, class-based approach to social change, insisting on unifying workers across racial lines under a scientific ideological framework inspired by socialist principles.
How does Ras's ideology differ from the Brotherhood's?
Ras advocates Black nationalism and racial separatism, arguing that Black and white people can never truly cooperate and that Black people must pursue freedom and equality through racial solidarity, even through violence if necessary.
What is the significance of the bullfighting imagery in Chapter 17?
The chapter references the bar El Toro ("the bull" in Spanish) and uses bullfighting imagery during the fight scene. Bullfighting, a violent sport where color is used to provoke, symbolizes the escalating racial conflicts and violence in Harlem.
What nightmares does the narrator experience in Chapter 17?
He has nightmares about Dr. Bledsoe, Lucius Brockway, and his grandfather, suggesting a subconscious fear that the Brotherhood, like previous authority figures, will ultimately betray him.
What do the narrator's nightmares foreshadow?
They foreshadow the Brotherhood's eventual betrayal of the narrator and its abandonment of Harlem, validating Ras's warnings that the organization will use and discard its Black members.
What internal conflict does the narrator face in Chapter 17?
He feels a profound split between his public role as a Brotherhood spokesman and his private doubts about the organization. He admits to having misgivings about the Brotherhood's ideology and methods.
How does Chapter 17 develop the theme of invisibility?
The narrator is valued by the Brotherhood for his rhetorical power rather than his ideas or individuality. He is seen as a tool of persuasion, not a person, extending the novel's central theme that Black individuals are rendered invisible by the institutions that claim to serve them.
What is the significance of the narrator modeling his rally after Ras's style?
By imitating Ras's street rally format, the narrator implicitly acknowledges the effectiveness of Ras's grassroots approach, even as the Brotherhood insists on its own scientific methods. It reveals tension between what works and what the organization prescribes.
Why is Ras unable to kill Clifton despite viewing him as a traitor?
Ras's refusal demonstrates the power of racial solidarity over ideological differences. Despite seeing Clifton as betraying their race, the bond of shared Black identity proves stronger than his rage, illustrating his core belief in the primacy of racial connection.
How does Chapter 17 set the stage for later events in the novel?
It introduces the key tensions that will drive the rest of the narrative: the Brotherhood's unreliability, Ras's growing power, the narrator's doubts, and Clifton's vulnerable position between opposing forces. Clifton's tragic arc and the narrator's disillusionment both begin here.