Parallels between Bledsoe and Mr. Kimbro in Invisible Man

Kimbro is a minor character of invisible man who is first introduced to the reader when the narrator starts working at Liberty Paints, but as we learn more and more about the character, more similarities between Kimbro and Bledsoe appear. The first time the narrator sees Mr. Kimbro, he is “searing violently at the phone” (198). This is similar to the unmasked Bledsoe we were introduced to earlier in the novel. This angry characterization of Mr. Kimbro continues as he gives the narrator a tour of the factory. He is in a hurry and tells the narrator “This is a busy department and I don’t have time to repeat things. […] so get your orders the first time and get them right!” (199). The need for perfection and control reminded me of Bledsoe and his power hunger.

            As the narrator continues his first day of work, he has more interactions with his boss, and the reader is exposed to more of Mr. Kimbro. One especially important passage was when the narrator asked about the black liquid being mixed into the paint.

“That’s it. That’s all you have to do,” he said. “Never mind how it looks. That’s my worry. You just do what you’re told and don’t try to think about it. […] And hurry, we’ve got to get this batch off to Washington by 11:30” (200)

The response from Kimbro is oddly angry, and we see that he is trying to keep the factory working perfectly. The last sentence tells us that, just like Bledsoe, Mr. Kimbro is working at the mercy of a larger power, in this case the government in Washington.

            Our narrator works well in his new job, that is until he runs out of “dope”. At that point, Mr. Kimbro tells him to go get some more, but when our narrator arrives in the designated room, there are multiple tanks. The narrator is unable to decide which is the correct, and picks the one that smells and looks the same. He returns to his job of mixing paint, but when Mr. Kimbro returns Mr. Kimbro realizes that the paint is ruined.

            The manager explodes at the realization of the mistake, and when he asks the narrator why he chose the incorrect liquid, he responds “Because it smelled the same” (204). To the reader, we find the excuse reasonable, but instead Kimbro yells at the narrator “Goddamit, don’t you know you can’t smell shit around all those fumes?” (204). The whole situation of Kimbro assuming what the narrator knows is comparable to Bledsoe and his assumption that the narrator wouldn’t take Mr. Norton to a different part of the college.

With all these similarities between his current situation at the paint factory and his time with Bledsoe at the college, the reader hopes that the narrator will not make the same mistakes. Hopefully, any traps or tricks will be avoided. Although the narrator, at some points, seems to think there are tricks being played on him, our hopes are wrong. That is because I believe the biggest parallel between the situation with Bledsoe and the situation with Kimbro is where they send the narrator.

           As we recall, Bledsoe gives the narrator false letters of recommendation and sends him to New York where he will not be welcomed. Then, after Kimbro has yelled at the narrator, Kimbro sends him to be the “assistant” for a man who is paranoid about losing his job. The result is again the same, and our narrator is not welcomed (he ends up being severely injured by the man he works for). We assume that Kimbro knew what would happen when he sent the clueless narrator down to the engine room, and thus Kimbro does exactly what Bledsoe did to the narrator not too long before.