Section II [Chapter II-Chapter III-Chapter IV-Chapter IV]

     I decided to go for the "Foster-inspired" (not really) analysis of Chapters 2-5 because I feel like the vision thing will continue to show up later. 
     In Chapter 2, after a long description of the college he attended, the protagonist begins to tell the story of  the time he took a trustee of the university for a drive. Immediately my mind went to the first chapter of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Every Trip is a Quest (except when it's not). The chapter in question lists the key components to a Quest as being:

1. a quester
2. a place to go
3. a stated reason to go there 
4. challenges and trials
5. and the real reason to go

The quester in this particular case is obviously the protagonist. The place to go is back to the college. The stated reason is so Mr. Norton can get back to his class/be treated for his illness/important things. The challenges and trials are of particular interest. At first, the trip appears to be a fairly relaxing drive in which Mr. Norton tells our protagonists something interesting to influence the rest of his life, etc. Things quickly change for the worse when Mr. Norton experiences a range of inexplicable emotions, with the trip culminating in a rowdy bar with some mental patients. These trials are fairly Odyssian in terms of structure, with multiple trials in the form of islandesque stops along the way, ending in a trial of acceptance once the questers get home. (also worth noting the framing of the journey with the same description found in the beggining)

     The final component, the real reason for the trip, has yet to be explained, but there are multiple points of interest being foreshadowed. Mr. Norton's reaction to the sharecropper and illness have yet to be explained (actually maybe his reaction is explainable-- ideas for next post), and his comments about the protagonist's future will most definitely be answered. The true mystery is in Dr. Bledsoe's reaction to the situation. 

    I think I'll leave this subject to rest until I finish this arc of the story. (also book is really good, not sure if I mentioned that).

Section I [Introduction-Prologue-Chapter I]

(It is important to note that while this post is primarily based on the introduction through Chapter 1, at the time of writing I have also read Chapters 2-5)

     The first thing that popped out from the text was the obvious disjointed nature of the narration. The initial section of the prologue displayed this most of all. The narrator/protagonist continuously jumps around the subject of his race while defining his invisibility by listing everything that it is not. Immediately my mind jumped to the introduction, where the author described his inspiration for the book. The author describes the identity (?) crisis faced by his acquaintance while in the army between the worlds of white and black people in America. As the author describes this individual, it begins to appear as if the individual in question is beginning to become unstable.
     Jumping back into the prologue, this instability further displays itself in the protagonist (who I think is unnamed so far, now that I think about it) who beats and nearly murders a man (directly under a streetlight as well) and runs and counts 1369 across his ceiling. His dream/trip/intense Louis Armstrong experience further cements the appearance of insanity and serves to provide a lot of foreshadowing (as a good prologue must, I suppose). The narrator protagonist provides a little background for his instability in the form of the story of his grandfather, but it doesn't explain a lot.
     The first chapter provides further insight into the actions by showing that the protagonist wasn't always as addled as he is in the prologue. In the first chapter, the speaker appears as intelligent and thoughtful, though maybe not as streetwise as some, given his terrific display of naivety during the battle royal scene. The battle royal itself, as well as the events surrounding it, do begin to give insight into the protagonists eventual insanity, though the protagonist seems fairly sane so far in my readings.
     Kinda short post, but the next one will almost definitely be longer. Next post will probably be a Foster-inspired analysis of Chapter 2+, or maybe a discussion of vision as a metaphor, or both.