Invisible Man Ambition and Integrity

...

Not only is the Narrator willing to preach what he doesn't believe and disregard his own best interests for his ambitions, he's also willing to take on an entirely new identity if it brings him more money and a higher status in Harlem. When the Narrator accidentally incites a riot with a speech he made 'just because he felt like it', he's chased down and recruited to the Brotherhood by Brother Jack. He tells the Narrator that they were impressed by how he mobilized the crowd at the eviction and they'd like him to do the same for their cause. The Narrator refuses at first, but then he realizes that the $60 a week and the opportunity for power they offer his is worth it, despite not really understanding or believing in their cause at the time. They ask a lot in return, though. The Narrator has to move out of Mary's house, change his name, and give up the closest thing to a mother that he's known in a long time to be given the chance to write history alongside the Brotherhood. And he does realizing that he's on a new and better path to power than he's ever been on before. As he gets ready to deliver his first official speech he thinks "The moment I walked out upon the platform and opened my mouth I'd be someone else… Perhaps simply to be known, to be looked upon by so many people… perhaps this was enough to make one different" (336). Here he knows that once he commits to this path and step out on the stage, he'll become a completely different person, with a new name and a new personality. He might become someone that Mary, the woman who took him in and cared for him when he needed it most, wouldn't- couldn't if he wanted to be someone in the organization- recognize, someone that he himself might not even recognize. But he steps out on the stage and gives up his entire identity anyways. Eventually the Brotherhood gives up on Harlem, and, by extension, him. Then not only is he left without their financial support, he's also left without a name, without purpose, and bereft of any leftover illusions of how the world should work. His hard work and dedication meant nothing, because in the end he's just a nameless, invisible man living in a basement and stealing electricity out of spite.

By sacrificing his integrity for his ambitions, the Narrator loses his sense of identity when he loses himself in the causes he supports. Every time he finds a new path to power, the Narrator will do anything, lie, play a role, and even change his entire identity to follow it. If integrity is defined by the morals a person holds themselves to, the Narrator can't seem to find a set of them to stick with as he finds new ways to gain power. Since he's willing to gamble with his integrity to gain power, it's no surprise that he's lost everything, his power, his purpose, and everything else that he's measured his success by when he's looking back at his life from his tiny basement hole.

...