Ex Machina

The metaphor of the machine has been thread in throughout the novel. Mr. Norton refers to the narrator as a "cog." Lucius Brockway calls the narrator and himself the "machines inside the machine." In the beginning of the novel, the narrator is a cog in a well-oiled machine. He performs his tasks just as the whites and blacks expect him to. However, ever so slowly he begins to disrupt the status quo. Whether it is by saying "social equality" instead of "social responsibility", or by gaining realization about the world around him, he slowly becomes a "defective cog" in the eyes of those in control, who also fear that he might ruin the operation of the machine as a whole. This is actually quite a common theme in utopian/dystopian literature. The protagonist realizes the problems with society and the authorities want to quiet this person so that they don't disrupt the peace. And so, the authorities deal with the narrator of Invisible Man. Dr. Bledsoe sends him away from the college to maintain its integrity and his own position. Bledsoe 
makes minor repairs to the cog and moves it to another part of the machine. Now the narrator arrives in New York, and continues to become even more "defective." He gains a better understanding of the racial dynamics between blacks and whites (after listening to the vet on the bus). He bristles at a waiter's stereotyping. He adds sarcasm and irony to his array of verbal tools. He rebels against those around him (his boss and coworkers at Liberty Paints). The breaking point of all of this is where he literally breaks the machine in Liberty Paints. He has escaped the machine. In a last-ditch effort to maintain the status quo, the factory doctors try to give the narrator a non-surgical lobotomy--so that "society will suffer no traumata on his account." In terms of the machine metaphor, they, unable to fix the cog, melt it down into pure metal, removing from it any function or capability. They fail to realize that this metal can be molded, either by the narrator himself or by others. Thus, once again exposed to society, the narrator begins now to verbally speak out against the injustices done to him and other blacks. He has molded himself in the image of an aspect of his childhood--a speechmaker. However, the Brotherhood has now recruited him and begun molding him the way they see fit. What plans the Brotherhood has for the narrator have yet to become clear, but I am expecting the narrator to once again escape this new machine he has become a part of.