The Invisible Man as activist and isolate

Following his banishment from the Brotherhood for acting on his own "personal" beliefs and not waiting for instructions from The Committee, Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man wanders the streets of Harlem, where he sees lots of activity and anger following the police murder and funeral for Tod Clifton - anger that the Brotherhood fails to recognize or channel - and eventually he comes upon his arch-rival, the Black separatism advocate Ras the Exhorter, who's leading a street rally, which he turns against the IM when he notices him in the crowd; the IM leaves, followed by some thugs who try to beat him up. He escapes and goes into a drugstore to buy a disguise: shades, and big hat. To his amazement, not only to people - including associates fail to recognize him (not really believable but let's accept it), but hes mistaken wherever he goes for guy named Rinehart - through these misidentifications he learns that Rinehart is a guy who pretends to be a friend of the people but actually is in league w/ the police - this further exacerbates the IM's cynicism and pushes him toward withdrawal from activism - in a long chapter w/ little action but lots of reflection, the IM begins to realize that through his long journey he is finally discovering his own self and personality and he does not want to subjugate that self to a greater force, good or evil - and he begins to think the Brotherhood is evil and hypocritical, following a late-night visit to his mentor, who fails to offer consolation. We are edging closer to the IM whom we'd met at the outset of the novel, a social isolate.