Angels versus Demons

If one missed the abundance of light versus dark or black versus white or snow versus soot or sunny versus cloudy or etc., etc. I would have to assume that they had not read Invisible man. Other than an obvious interpretation of these images and symbols as being related to race (i.e. white society versus black society, I think these images offer a unique look into religious entities. The abundance of light v dark and black v white connotate evil versus goodness, a motif that pervades the conflict between angles and demons. I did like how in some of the seminars we introduced the idea of demonic or evil forces in the book. For, instance Brother Jack, Bledsoe, and even Ras the Destroyer. for me, all of these characters made me question what actually constitutes being demonic or simply evil for that matter. Each character construes some image of evil in a unique way. Jack is pointed out to have stolen the identity or soul of the narrator, catapulting him on what one can claim to be a journey to enlightenment or to willful ignorance. Bledsoe betrays the narrator for threat of the narrator exposing his obedience to whites and falseness as a true black man. Finally, Ras the Destroyer is portrayed as a violent figure, clashing against black "brothers" int the brotherhood. I think that these evil figures contrast with characters like Mary, Clifton, and the narrator's grandfather who are almost like holy or Christ like figures, angels. The contrast between angelic and demonic figures throughout the text offers a reading of the book through a religious or worshiping lens. In any religion, the conflict we see between different characters could be a disparity in the ideologies that they believe in and worship. When the narrator becomes wrapped up in the brotherhood, he becomes a worshiper of another religion in which the deity becomes the members of the brotherhood. He pays tribute to the brotherhood through his spread of the brotherhood doctrine, science to the people of Harlem.A sharp contrast to the "religion" that the narrator begins to follow int eh north. In the south, there exists a parallel ideology to that of the northern "religion" of the brotherhood. The southern doctrine is one that idolizes the "white man" as a higher, superior being. This "religion" is so controversial because it is divisive playing blacks against whites. The role of blacks to obey and be polite towards the white people is their form of worship but it is belittling. The fulfillment that the narrator gets from "worshiping" the brotherhood comes from the idea that it embraces the equality of black and white. Whereas the southern doctrine is so absolute in its divisions, the northern doctrine hides behind images of totality and oneness. Looking at the text in this way, the narrator's development could be interpreted as a test of faith. He must decide whether he should stay true to the backwards ideologies of the south or come to learn if the northern religion is even more perverted than the southern doctrine.