More Human- Less Invisible
"....becoming aware that there were two of me: the old
self that slept a few hours a night and dreamed sometimes of my grandfather and
Bledsoe and Brockway and Mary, the self that flew without wings and plunged
from great heights; and the new public self that spoke for the Brotherhood and
was becoming so much more important than the other that I seemed to run a foot
race against myself..." (380)
This is one of many times in the novel that our narrator realizes he has
changed so much.
The fight with Ras makes him reflect back to his fight in the first chapter of
the novel, and every so often he becomes wary and asks himself if another
person is going to steer him wrong again like he has been so many other times.
A bit earlier he says that he is becoming 'more human' and even shocks himself
by saying this..
" 'More human'... Did I mean that I became less of what I was, less a
Negro, or that I was becoming less a being apart... But this is all negative.
To become less- in order to become more?"
in my opinion, he naturally feels more accepted now, more human and less
invisible because he is accepted by the people.
Other Thoughts
It makes sense. At the same time, though, it seems as if he is both visible and invisible all at once. He notices a sort of duality in his personality. The part he portrays along with the Brotherhood is visible to all, but the part that takes the forefront when he is alone is invisible to all but himself.