A New Pair of Shoes

The symbolism in Invisible Man is certainly one of the most visible parts of the book. Although sometimes it screams at you (take Liberty Paints, for example), and other times it’s more subtle, Ralph Ellison seems to make it present throughout almost all of the novel.

One of the small yet interesting details of chapter 20 is when the narrator, seemingly out of nowhere, decides to buy a new pair of shoes. This scene happens directly after he returns to Harlem, finds that the Brotherhood has fallen apart there, and notices that he purposefully was not invited to one of their meetings.

The passage states:

When I arrived the meeting was in session, just as I expected, and word had been left that it was not to be disturbed by anyone. It was obvious that they hadn't forgotten to notify me. I left the building in a rage. Very well, I thought, when they do decide to call me they'll have to find me. I should never have been shifted in the first place, and now that I was sent back to clean up the mess they should aid me as quickly as possible. I would do no more running downtown, nor would I accept any program that they sent up without consulting the Harlem committee. Then I decided, of all things, to shop for a pair of new shoes, and walked over to Fifth Avenue. (429)

This passage seems to be one of the few times (so far) where the narrator is blatantly angry at the entire Brotherhood group. He was mad when brother Wrestrum accused him, but this anger was more directed towards Wrestrum instead of everyone else. It seems that, at this point, the narrator is beginning to fall out of the Brotherhood a little more. They would now have to “find” him, and he would limit his actions and programs more. He is starting to show some stronger form of resistance, versus in the chapters before when he and relied religiously on everything that they were doing and accepted it all, sometimes even feeling that his entire life was for the Brotherhood. 

With this anger and feeling of betrayal, and a potential shift in his place within the Brotherhood, the narrator decides to purchase a pair of new shoes. He makes an interesting point here by mentioning the phrase “of all things.” Buying new shoes at this moment is not a very logical response to the situation, and the narrator highlights this unexpected aspect. But then why did Ellison make sure to include the narrator purchasing new shoes? This passage directly precedes the tragic scene with Tod Clifton, right before things begin to “boil,” and these events seem to be an enormous turning point in the narrator’s story (430). Therefore, perhaps buying the shoes represents a point of transition: he needs a new pair of shoes to travel on this new “path” of life.

I feel that this passage is especially interesting because it mirrors another important turning point in the narrator’s story. The previous time we see the narrator getting a new pair of shoes is when he is first joining the Brotherhood, another period where, as the narrator calls it, he was “becoming someone else.” 

If I were successful tonight, I'd be on the road to something big. No more flying apart at the seams, no more remembering forgotten pains . . . No, I thought, shifting my body, they're the same legs on which I've come so far from home. And yet they were somehow new. The new suit imparted a newness to me. It was the clothes and the new name and the circumstances. It was a newness too subtle to put into thought, but there it was. I was becoming someone else. (335)

This passage again seems to use the shoes and other new clothes as a symbol of transition in the narrator’s life. (Although shoes are not explicitly mentioned here, they are mentioned as part of the new clothes that the narrator receives on page 331).

Furthermore, the narrator’s thought pattern is specifically interesting here because unlike Brotherhood seems to want to think much of the time, the narrator will not forget about and discard history (meaning history from the past, not like the Brotherhood’s version of history as the present or future). The narrator recognizes that our history is what brings us to where we are. His entire past is what led him to his present journey and is how he got to where he is. Like he says, “these were the same legs on which I’ve come so far.”  It’s his same legs and he’s the same person that was at home in the South, in college, at Liberty Paints, and speaking at the eviction. But now, he’s just on a new journey.

We all need different shoes to walk in different environments, take the snow versus the beach, but we metaphorically need different shoes to walk in different scenarios too. However, we still only have one pair of legs and one self, and the narrator appears to recognize this. This thought pattern could be another point where the narrator’s thoughts and realizations contradict the Brotherhood’s central themes. It’s another example where perhaps readers see a “red flag” with the Brotherhood and that the narrator is endangering himself.

The next and final mention of the narrator’s shoes in chapter twenty is after Tod Clifton’s devastating murder. After witnessing this scene, the narrator takes a subway, and as he exits, he notes: “I came out of the subway, weak, moving through the heat as though I carried a heavy stone, the weight of a mountain on my shoulders. My new shoes hurt my feet” (443). I found this other particular and deliberate reference to the shoes, this time following the biggest event of the chapter, very compelling. What I found especially interesting is that the new shoes that he just bought earlier that day already hurt him. Why didn’t he notice that they were uncomfortable before? Perhaps it represents how this new life path that the narrator has begun on already is and will continue to be painful and rough. If joining the Brotherhood and getting those first new shoes brought him joy and security, even superficially or temporarily, this new period in the narrator’s life seems that it will be much more tragic and difficult to traverse.

The narrator’s new shoes may represent transition, a time where he begins to follow a different life path. Although our legs remain the same and always carry our past, a new pair of shoes changes where we can walk and the manner in which we do so. New shoes symbolize a shift in circumstances and situations in our lives, for better or for worse, as we must always adjust ourselves to the new road ahead.

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. Vintage Books, 1980.