An Awakening Through a Eulogy
In Todd Clifton's funeral speech, IM attempts to liberate himself through the use of rhetorical language. He breaks free of the Brotherhood's "blueprints" by speaking with no set framework, going against the brotherhoods belief in social vs. racial equality by implying Todd was a hero in a world of white supremacy. He uses repetitiveness when calling out Todd's name, attempting to give Todd some sort of identity. By calling out to Todd's identity, IM slowly acknowledges the truth of his own invisibility, and in fact, the truth and reality of the black man's existence. IM also uses the reverse psychology of irony and dry humor to accent the double sidedness of Todd Clifton's death; on one side Todd was just another dead black man, and on the other Todd was a human being, an individual. Subconsciously, the Invisible Man observes that all blacks are "Invisible" to others. First, IM says to the crowd that they must "go take a drink and forget [the funeral]," since this sort of tragedy happens on a regular basis; it is "an old story." The crowd will forget about Todd's funeral for one reason: no one knew him, there wasn't "even a young wife up [there] in red to morn him." By pointing out that Todd had no next of kin, a family to know
In his speech, the Invisible Man constantly refers to Todd and his life, but in the end he is able to use Todd's death as a symbol of the reality of the white society that they lived in. Through the metaphor of the sun, IM implies that racial inequality towards black's can be as damaging as a sun inferno, drying up a man's vital fluids like a mans own self-worth. IM brings a dynamic reality through his concrete images and clean-cut factual descriptions of Todd's 'fall'. Like Todd, IM always made the mistake of assuming that if he fought hard enough, he would become a man of equal stature. Through the verbal irony of calling the cop a good citizen, not only does IM safely keep himself innocent of any brash judgment, but he also brings forth the true nature of the cop. The Invisible Man describes to the crowd that "he was shot for a simple mistake of judgment. And so, in an emotional peek, IM calls out for an attempt to crawl out of this box, that Todd is "crowded and needs room. "His name was Todd Clifton, he believed in Brotherhood, he aroused our hopes and he died. IM does not allow the crowd emotional distance, reminding them of their faces reflected in Clifton's blood, and evokes a subtle sense of shame through his humility towards the importance of Todd's death, implying that Todd was almost never "a living man", thus deeming the blood which left his veins as unimportant as that of a man who was already dead. It's an old story and there's been too much blood to excite you. The box, the grave with Todd Clifton was buried in, was the inexpugnable predisposition towards racial bias. For, a man who devotes his life to a mute struggle is never heard nor seen, and therefore as good as dead.
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Acceptance Essays
