Chapter 20 Quiz — Invisible Man

by Ralph Ellison

Comprehension Quiz: Chapter 20

He claims another Brotherhood member gave him verbal permission to proceed
He argues the Harlem community needed a public response to Clifton's police killing and the Brotherhood's silence was a betrayal
He says he was following a directive from a higher-ranking Brotherhood official
He insists the funeral was a private affair that accidentally attracted a crowd

To serve as the Brotherhood's chief strategist for community engagement in Harlem
To act as an equal partner who contributes his unique knowledge of the Black community
To follow directives as an instrument through which the organization's decisions reach the people
To independently recruit new members and build the organization's Harlem presence

The physical sacrifices that dedicated political leaders must make for their cause
The Brotherhood's ideological blindness and its fundamentally impaired perspective on reality
The violence that the Brotherhood has endured from its political opponents over the years
The narrator's own inability to perceive the true motivations of those around him

Tod Clifton, through the legacy of his street-corner speeches and Sambo doll performances
Brother Tarp, who has been quietly organizing an alternative community network
Ras the Exhorter, who has exploited the power vacuum left by the Brotherhood
Rinehart, whose multiple identities have given him connections across the community

To leave the South immediately and seek freedom in the industrial cities of the North
To pursue education above all else as the only path to true liberation and equality
To "yes them to death" — to overcome oppressors through apparent submission and covert subversion
To trust no one outside the family and build wealth in secret before making a move

He decides to openly break with the Brotherhood and join Ras the Exhorter's movement
He plans to outwardly comply with the Brotherhood while secretly pursuing his own agenda to protect Harlem
He resolves to climb the organization's hierarchy to reform it from a position of greater power
He chooses to abandon both the Brotherhood and Harlem to start a new life elsewhere

Both men were trained in the Brotherhood's public speaking techniques and used identical rhetorical strategies
It echoes the Sambo dolls Clifton was selling, linking the narrator's exploitation to the commodification of Black identity
It refers to Clifton's background as a skilled craftsman who built mechanical devices before joining the Brotherhood
Both men adopted disguises to move through Harlem unrecognized after falling out with the Brotherhood

He knows the Brotherhood's secret financial records, which reveal corruption at the highest levels
He understands Harlem's community dynamics better than any other Brotherhood member does
He knows the Brotherhood is blind to his humanity, and they do not know he possesses this knowledge
He has learned about a rival organization's plans to undermine the Brotherhood's influence

He becomes visibly embarrassed and abruptly ends the committee meeting
He calmly retrieves it, wipes it clean, and replaces it without showing distress
He angrily accuses the narrator of provoking him to the point of physical breakdown
He ignores it entirely and continues his argument as if nothing happened

The Brotherhood is a legitimate civil rights organization that simply lacks sufficient resources for all communities
The Brotherhood genuinely cares about Harlem but is forced to make difficult choices about resource allocation
The Brotherhood treats the Black community as raw material to be mobilized or abandoned based on the organization's shifting strategic calculations
The Brotherhood has always been transparent about its limitations and never promised sustained support to Harlem

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