Education in Invisible Man: Enlightenment or an Illusion?

Throughout everything we've read in Invisible Man, one question that has stuck with me is the idea we discussed with the statue in Chapter 2: in the statue of the Founder of the university, is a veil being lifted off the slave by the Founder, or is it being lowered into place? And what does Ellison think of the Founder's (presumably Booker T. Washington) vision of education?

The answer to this question changes throughout the novel. In Chapter 1, the narrator seems absolutely enthralled by the idea that every person has a 'social responsibility' and he envisions himself being a successful man like those at the banquet. For him, education represents this mode that will take him up to the upper reaches of society (obviously with limits, due to his race, his being in the Deep South, and the time period this is set in). This is shown through his eagerness when he receives the scholarship, despite the humiliating and bloody ordeal he has to go through in order to get to that point. Later, in the dream with his grandfather, one can again see the narrator's single minded goal of going to college, despite his grandfather almost mocking him by saying 'Keep this ******-Boy Running'. Right after that, the narrator says 'But first, I had to go to college.' 

Throughout Chapter 2 (and until he meets Mr. Emerson) as well, we see the narrator trying to pursue his success by defining himself by those around him, especially men of power. For him, Dr. Bledsoe is everything he aspires to be - he has a big house, multiple cars, a beautiful wife, and society respects him. However, there are points where the narrator does seem to question the ideas that the institution is built on - we're told that one road leads to the college and another to an asylum, the college is built on a hill while being surrounded by the huts of sharecroppers, that the Preacher Barbee is blind (this seems to be a recurring metaphor), and that there's this statue of the founder and the narrator can't really tell whether or not the veil is being lifted or put into place. Doing some further research, I found out that the name of this statue is Lifting the Veil of Ignorance. On the surface level, the college does seem to be doing this job - the narrator learns about different thinkers and the college provides a good education. However, especially under Dr. Bledsoe, the college seems to reinforce the idea of chasing success without dismantling the systems of white supremacy that are around. 

The narrator's life seems to reflect that of Ellison's and so does his development. I think Ellison is portraying his ideological development through the narrator, as both their life paths are quite similar. Ellison was born in Oklahoma and attended the Tuskegee Institution (the inspiration for the university in Invisible Man). He too, grew disillusion with the ideals of the university and moved up to New York, specifically Harlem. The narrator's development and life reflects that of Ellison's and his ideas on education as well.