2.  After graduation from high school Invisible Man gives a speech to powerful men  He is awarded a scholarship based on his talent

3.  “I wanted to leave but I wanted also to speak and I was afraid they’d snatch me down” (31).

4.  This is the first speech IM gives in front of powerful and intimidating men.  IM draws from this experience later when he delivers a speech to a mob.

5.  While IM was driving Mr. Norton, Mr. Norton asked him to stop at Trueblood’s cabin. Trueblood tells of the incestuous relationship he had with his daughter.

6.  “Trueblood’s mouth fell agape, his eyes widened and filled with moisture as he took the bill between trembling fingers. It was a hundred-dollar bill” (69).

7.  IM learns the advantages of good oratory as Norton hands Trueblood money. He learns how to appeal to emotions instead of intellect.

8.  At IM’s last chapel, Barbee shares stories of the founder. After the speech, IM discovers that Barbee is blind.

9.  “between the gesture and the opaque glitter of his glasses, I saw the blinking of sightless eyes. Homer A. Barbee was blind” (133).

10.  The IM learns that you can overcome any obstacles to influence your audience in oratory.

11.  After IM comes back with Norton the disgruntled Bledsoe lectures him.

12.  “Why, the dumbest black bastard in the cotton patch knows that the only way to please a white man is to tell him a lie” (139).

13.  This shows IM characteristics of being overtly honest and lack of fear for powerful people.

14.  The IM sees the possessions of a poor family in Harlem strewn all over the street. He’s moved to speak about the injustices of poverty.

15.  “Something had been working fiercely inside me, and for a moment I had forgotten the rest of the crowd” (270).

16.  This is significant because it gets him the job with the Brotherhood and incites the the crowd to act within a few words.

17.  This is a speech about dispossession given to a crowd at the rally by IM. IM discusses how he has evolved as a person.

18.  “My true people! My true country! I am a new citizen of the country of your vision, a native of your fraternal land” (346).

19.  IM gains more confidence and learns that he needs to be less emotional when he speaks.

20.  When IM is walking the streets, he discovers Clifton persuading a crowd to buy Sambo dolls.

21.  “Sambo-Woogie, you don’t have to feed him, he sleeps collapsed, he’ll kill your depression and your dispossession, he lives upon the sunshine of your lordly smile” (432).

22.  This speech shows the betrayal of Clifton because he is selling the ethnically demeaning dolls.

23.  At Clifton’s funeral, IM speaks bluntly to the crowd. He cannot bring himself to speak on the issues of the brotherhood. It is a parody of Brutus’ eulogy.

24.  “ ‘All right,’ I called out, feeling desperate. It wasn’t the way I wanted it to go, it wasn’t political” (457).

25.  This speech shows the IM taking his own initiative instead of listening to the specific orders of the Brotherhood’s committee.