The narrator begins introducing himself as an “invisible man”. Behind the title he gives himself, lies an emotional distress. He mentions, “It’s when you feel like this that, out of resentment, you begin to bump people back. And, let me confess, you feel that way most of the time. You ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world, that you’re a part of all sound and anguish, and you strike out with your fists, you curse and you swear to make them recognize you. And, alas, it’s seldom successful.” (Ellison 4) Words such as ache, strike out, curse, swear, and seldom all relate to negative energy of emotions. There is no way that the narrator is saying it happily since he also states the need to reassure his own existence. Moreover, a person who isn’t in an emotional disarray is unlikely to carry out actions like bumping others back or attacking someone else like he had done to the tall, blond man in the dark. Having not received the apology he seeks for after being called an insulting name, he resorts to an emotional outburst. “And in outrage I got out my knife and prepared to slit his throat…” (Ellison 4) Had he been okay with the fact that he wasn’t noticed by others and is just invisible, he neither would have kept a knife in his pocket nor used it out of anger.
In contrast, he diverts his misery and validates his presence through his desire for light by commenting, “Light confirms my reality, gives birth to my form.” (Ellison 6) It is obvious that the narrator is unhappy of how he fits in among society as a different race. Since he feels that he is unseen without light, he steals electricity from Monopolated Light & Power to wire 1,369 bulbs in his underground home. From this instance, it can observed that wiring a significant amount of light bulbs stems from being in a negative mood, the urge to deny that he is nonexistent. If a person in a healthy emotional state is using electricity solely for the purpose of having his or her room to be lit up, he or she would assemble only a few. Therefore, being socially unaccepted influences emotional reactions.
I agree with many of the things that you are saying in this post pertaining to “The Invisible Man”. It is very evident that the narrator is in a state of “emotional disarray” as you claim him to be, which certainly can explain many of his actions. But, although his actions can be seen as rooted in anger, they may also be coming from a need to be seen. For example, you state that he attacks the blond man because he did not apologize for calling him an obscene name, which is true. However, his reaction may not be merely from an anger or emotional distress, but could also be an outcry in order for the man to truly see the narrator as something real, and not just an invisible shadow.