How the Brotherhood Warped the Narrator's Perception of His Own Identity

The Brotherhood is a group of individuals dedicated to activism based in New York. Partway through the book, the narrator finds himself sucked into associating with them. His experiences in the Brotherhood change how the narrator views his relationship with his own identity and begins chipping away at the wall of invisibility that surrounds him. The narrator is skeptical of the Brotherhood when first talking to Brother Jack, this being one of the first moments that the narrator thinks for himself. Because of his skepticism of Brother Jack’s “kindness”, the narrator thinks to himself “something told me to refuse [Brother Jack’s offer], but I was intrigued and, underneath it all, was probably flattered.” (288). The Brotherhood is both intriguing and untrustworthy to the narrator, and their control of his identity, later on, confirms those suspicions. As the narrator enters the Brotherhood and continues his journey with them, he finds himself both exploring his own identity further but continuing to be forced into a set identity that the people in the Brotherhood assign to him. The Brotherhood views the narrator as another variable in their political agenda and therefore doesn’t provide him the liberties of campaigning for them without completely changing who he is as a person. 

Firstly, the Brotherhood gives the narrator a new name, which comes after a conversation about the Brotherhood’s values and how they want him to be the new “Booker T. Washington”. The narrator is given an envelope by Mary as directed by Brother Jack and, “Inside I found a name written on a slip of paper.” (309). On top of giving him a new name, they also ask him to erase his past self and completely cut ties with his southern culture. The Brotherhood contradicts their label as a progressive and radical group by controlling how the narrator presents himself. The Brotherhood doesn’t actually wish for the narrator to be a part of their group, which is why they mold every aspect of who he is to their liking so that he will fit into what they deem to be appropriate. The complete control of the narrator’s identity causes him to have a crisis, as he no longer knows who he is. He has drastic switches from Southern to Northern culture and from Dr. Bledsoe to the Brotherhood, which forces him to rely on the Brotherhood's controlling nature. This gives the narrator almost a sense of stability. With the Brotherhood, although completely limited in his expression of his own identity, he still finds peace in how he is able to break free of his invisibility. The Brotherhood allows for him to explore public speaking even more and even allows him to speak at a rally where he feels even more of his invisibility wash away. Although the Brotherhood is providing outlets for the narrator's identity in one way, he is still presenting a fake version of himself to the world, and therefore it isn’t his real self.