Bledsoe's Elaborate Scam

Looking back on the college in Invisible Man, more and more oddities seem to stand out. From the weird religious feeling surrounding the Founder to the complete disregard for education, the entire institution seems completely backwards. For example, when one usually thinks of a college, one will think of an institution focused on learning and based around the needs of the students. While in Bledsoe’s college, the focus is instead on the white patrons that come and visit, as well as Bledsoe himself. When one really thinks about it, the college itself is just a con used to boost the status and wealth of first the Founder, and now Bledsoe. 

Think about it, whenever the Founder is mentioned it is with a religious reverence. Even the old white men were seen crying about his death. It was also mentioned that everyone knew who he was, and he traveled around the country in a private train car surrounded by rich people. Whenever he would show up for one of his rallies, it would be completely packed. Then when he finally died, there were statues erected everywhere of him and Bledsoe got to step up into the head position. 

Now, Bledsoe is a bit more obvious about his power hungriness than the Founder, as we actually get to hear him talk. For one, when the narrator first mentions Bledsoe, he talks about how he has two Cadillacs. Now, it would be difficult for most people to own one Cadillac at that time, especially if they were black. But Bledsoe is the head of the university, which is indeed a high paying job, but is nowhere near enough for him to buy two Cadillacs and still have a house to live in. This in itself suggests that maybe not all the money is going to the betterment of the university. Also, with the number of fundraisers and rich white patrons that Bledsoe seems to drag out of nowhere, the college should be made out of pure gold and the surrounding community should be flourishing. Instead the community is completely run down, and the college itself looks basically normal, with a bit of old paint here and there.

Finally, there is all the power that seems to come with being the head of this particular college. Bledsoe himself admits that he is the power behind everything, saying he even has the president dancing to his tune. Adding in the fact that he basically controls a large number of rich white men, many of whom could be congressmen or supreme court judges as well as the many business owners, he basically claims to control the entire country. The worrying part about this though, is that he completely believes it. Somehow, he has the entire country dancing to his tune and is thus one of the most powerful men in the nation, and considering the time period, by extension the world. All of this apparently comes from his position as the head of the college, which seems totally outrageous if this was a normal college. But, as we can clearly see, this is not in fact a normal college. The disregard for learning, the focus on money, the power games constantly being played, the illusions that Bledsoe places over the visitors, the religious feeling towards the Founder, it all points towards the college being some sort of elaborate scam meant to promote Bledsoe’s wealth and power.