There are a few other places in the novel where the text is center justified, ALL CAPS, similar to when he writes on Sybil's stomach.
Chapter 10
Ahead of me a huge electric sign announced its message through the drifting strands of fog:
Flags were fluttering in the breeze from each of a maze of buildings below the sign..."
Chapter 21
Chapter 23
"...a sign with a cross glowed above the walk:
The letters glowed dark green and I wondered if it were from the lenses or the actual color of the neon tubes."
So first off, these are all literally signs. Two of them electric, the middle one painted. And all of these have exactly 32 letters. Yeah, seemed weird to me too.
Ellison begins writing Invisible Man in the Summer of 1945...when he was 32 years old.
So all these 32-letter signs represent the narrator's pre-self-reflection state. He's still a 'talker', a runner. After he re-tells the story through writing ("the very act of trying to put it all down...") he's life is given another dimension. The 37-letter sign is his only act as a writer...except for the book itself which is told to use under the shadowless light of 1,369 bulbs.
In Summary:
- 1,369 lightbulbs is 37 raised to the power of 2 (squared)
- Ellison was 37 years old when he finished the book (by his calculation)
- The invisible narrator writes only one visible message in whole novel, 37 letters long.
- Ellison's father was 37 years old when Ellison was born.
- Special thanks to Rafia Zafar who indulged this wacko idea more than 20 years ago.
- Feedback or questions. Email me at antonow [at] gmail.com
- Back to the beginning!
Here's a beautiful re-creation of Invisible Man's room by artist, Jeff Wall. Lightbulbs and all. Click to enlarge.
Chapter 10
Ahead of me a huge electric sign announced its message through the drifting strands of fog:
KEEP AMERICA PURE
WITH
LIBERTY PAINTS
Flags were fluttering in the breeze from each of a maze of buildings below the sign..."
Chapter 21
"There were half-draped flags and black banners. There were black-bordered signs that read:
BROTHER TOD CLIFTON
OUR HOPE SHOT DOWN
Chapter 23
"...a sign with a cross glowed above the walk:
HOLY WAY STATION
BEHOLD THE LIVING GOD
So first off, these are all literally signs. Two of them electric, the middle one painted. And all of these have exactly 32 letters. Yeah, seemed weird to me too.
Ellison begins writing Invisible Man in the Summer of 1945...when he was 32 years old.
So all these 32-letter signs represent the narrator's pre-self-reflection state. He's still a 'talker', a runner. After he re-tells the story through writing ("the very act of trying to put it all down...") he's life is given another dimension. The 37-letter sign is his only act as a writer...except for the book itself which is told to use under the shadowless light of 1,369 bulbs.
In Summary:
- 1,369 lightbulbs is 37 raised to the power of 2 (squared)
- Ellison was 37 years old when he finished the book (by his calculation)
- The invisible narrator writes only one visible message in whole novel, 37 letters long.
- Ellison's father was 37 years old when Ellison was born.
- Special thanks to Rafia Zafar who indulged this wacko idea more than 20 years ago.
- Feedback or questions. Email me at antonow [at] gmail.com
- Back to the beginning!
Here's a beautiful re-creation of Invisible Man's room by artist, Jeff Wall. Lightbulbs and all. Click to enlarge.
