Women in Invisible Man - Analysis of Sybil from the Chthonian (300 - 314)

In chapter 24, the narrator finds himself looking for a woman to sexually manipulate. In his search, he comes across a woman named Sybil. He remembers she has approached him before at a previous lecture. He also knows that she is an unhappy wife, which makes her an easier target than Emma. The narrator's plan goes well and arranges for Sybil to meet him at his apartment the following evening. The narrator is risking degrading himself in the process of exploiting Sybil. The narrator spends the entire next day preparing for his encounter with Sybil. Quickly after Sybil's arrival, they both become drunk. The narrator realizes that Sybil holds no information and she is more interested in the narrator fulfilling her fantasy of certain black stereotypes. Sybil reveals that she wants the narrator to rape her and that she might me a nymphomaniac. The narrator is reluctant to play into this fantasy, but by doing so it demonstrates his lack of direction. It is a cowardly action and it one of the deepest points of disillusionment in the novel. He has stoop so low to take control of the situation and ends becoming even more lost. Afterwards, the narrator receives a call that he must return to Harlem. Sybil makes many attempts to stay with the Invisible Man. She is similar to the coin bank in that she was difficult to get rid of. Overall, Sybil further emphasizes the idea of Black men being objects. She represents the horrible and stereotypic views associated with them. By the narrator allowing himself to be put in a situation like this it demonstrates his invisibility. He is allowing himself to be something that he is not and doesn't stand up to these views. It is ironic that he becomes offended by the coin bank and sambo doll, but not by this racist fantasy that Sybil wants to act out.