Invisible Man: Female Analysis

Sybil

Sybil of Greek mythology was originally a mouthpiece for the Olympic gods, but in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, she is at the narrator's disposal to discover his fate within the clutches of the Brotherhood. Her husband, George, is an official of high standing within the Brotherhood, but it is apparent when Sybil discusses her marriage with George that not only is she blissfully unaware of her husband's political secrecy (making her a willing, if ignorant, informant), but life is not going so well for her in general. She apparently "wouldn't be missed" (p. 399)  away from her husband's side.

While Sybil's inappropriate behavior when she is alone with the narrator could be attributed to her suffering private life, what she actually stands for only furthers Ellison's negative portrayal of the sexual woman with her being white on top of everything only exacerbating the disgust. Once she is properly intoxicated at the hands of the narrator, he tries to extract information from the woman, realizing too late that he has chosen someone who not only is too drunk to divulge any secrets but does not know any to begin with. On top of that, Sybil's rape fantasy with its specification of a "buck" (p. 401) at the perpetrator is a callback to the woman in red, who wants to have an affair with a Black man based off of societal stereotypes. In the end, Sybil's presence is not only ironic given the spiritual connotation of her historical counterpart (and likely namesake) but further sullies the image of women in Invisible Man and paints them still as hypersexual beings with an extra layer of taboo.