The Narrator's Briefcase

The narrator’s briefcase has made three appearances so far in Invisible Man. Although it is given to the narrator at the height of his humiliation at the battle royal, he sees it not in that light but instead as a symbol of prestige and his self-worth. “I was so moved that I could hardly express my thanks. A rope of bloody saliva forming a shape like an undiscovered continent drooled upon the leather and I wiped it quickly away. I felt an importance that I had never dreamed” (32). Even as the narrator is literally swallowing and drooling blood, he is not ashamed, or even aware that the ceremony is not truly being done to honor and reward him. This theme of humiliation that the narrator cannot or will not see remains associated with the briefcase, and though it we can see how the narrator develops as a character.

When the briefcase is first presented to the narrator, it contains a scholarship to the “state college for Negroes” (32) that the narrator goes on to attend. The narrator sees this too, as a reward for his accomplishments, and given his naivety, this makes sense. But when he dreams of his grandfather that night, the reader, if not the narrator, realizes that the scholarship might not be all that it seems. The grandfather instructs the narrator to take the envelope out of his briefcase and open it. The narrator does, but inside every envelope he finds just another envelope until he reaches the last one with an enclosed message that instructs whoever it may concern to keep the narrator running. In place of what the narrator perceived as a prestigious reward and a momentous opportunity, there are in reality only empty envelopes (empty promises?) and instructions to the rest of the world to never let him stop chasing what Bledsoe later refers to as “that promise which, like the horizon, recedes ever brightly and distantly beyond the hopeful traveler” (187).

The second time the briefcase makes an appearance, the narrator is once again on the brink of a new phase in his life as he prepares to leave the college for Harlem. The contents of the briefcase are also similar. Bledsoe gives the narrator seven envelopes addressed to trustees of the college, important men who will be able to help him find work. But yet again, the envelops cause the narrator humiliation while masquerading as something that he hopes will allow him to return to the college. The similarity of the narrator’s goals and circumstances, and the contents of the briefcase show just how little the narrator has developed since he received the briefcase. However, this time, instead of his grandfather in a dream, the disillusionment is brought about by Mr. Emerson and the narrator can no longer ignore the game that is being played without his knowledge. Interestingly, the narrator connects this incident to the dream about his grandfather, even using the phrase “keep him running” when composing a satirical version of the letter.

In the final appearance of the briefcase that we have seen so far, the narrator is once again entering a new phase of his life as he leaves Mary’s to take a job with the Brotherhood. Otherwise, however the circumstances are totally different. Instead of papers, the briefcase now contains the remains of the bank that the narrator smashed at Mary’s house. Instead of having something that the narrator sees as prestigious but is truly humiliating in the briefcase, the narrator is now using the briefcase to hide the object of his humiliation. This difference shows how the narrator is beginning to develop as a character. He now is no longer the blind and naive student that he used to be; he now sees the game and is learning to play along.