# data[].attributes.body
"That night I dreamed... [my grandfather] told me to open my brief case and read what was inside and I did, finding an official envelope...inside the envelope I found another and another, endlessly...

'Them's years,' he said. "'Now open that one.' And I did and in it I found an engraved document containing a short message in letters of gold.

'Read it,' my grandfather said. 'Out loud.'

'To Whom It May Concern,' I intoned. 'Keep This 🤬-Boy Running.'"(33).

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"'...I wish to present him a prize in the form of this . . .'

He paused, removing the tissue paper and revealing a gleaming calfskin brief case...

'Boy,' he said, addressing me, 'take this prize and keep it well...Prize it. Keep developing as you are and some day it will be filled with important papers that will help shape the destiny of your people.'

I was so moved that I could hardly express my thanks...I complied... finding an official-looking document inside. It was a scholarship to the state college for Negroes" (32).

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"And while I got down my bags and my prize brief case, still as shiny as the night of the battle royal, he instructed me how to take the subway, then I struggled through the crowd"(157).

# data[].attributes.headline
The Briefcase in Relation to the North and South

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The Briefcase in Relation to the North and South

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"Well, there were unseen lines that ran from North to South, and Mr. Norton had called me his destiny ... I swung my brief case with confidence"(168).

# data[].attributes.body
The briefcase is also used as a "vessel" to hold other symbols, specifically items that have impacted his life and shaped him as an "invisible man".

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The briefcase represents the baggage that the narrator has carried with him his entire life. Him burning it in the final chapter to provide himself with light is a symbol of how sometimes to move forward in life, you must let go of the past.

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The briefcase is one of the first instances of IM having a physical object of true importance and is a representation of IM furthering his life and his education.

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"It was still as new as the night of the battle royal, and sagged now as I placed the smashed bank and coins inside and locked the flap...I could feel the brief case swinging against my leg from the weight of the package"(327-8).

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"My briefcase with the broken image lay on the table" (332).

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"And in a corner, my brief case, covered with specks of dust like memories--the night of the battle royale...brushing its dust against the edge of my leg and feeling the unexpected weight...Something clinked inside" (527).

# data[].attributes.body
"Running from the birds to what, I didn't know. I ran. Why was I here at all? I ran through the night, ran within myself. Ran" (534).

# data[].attributes.body
The briefcase was not mentioned while IM was disillusioned with the Brotherhood; it contains racial injustices and he thought he was fixing those with the Brotherhood before he came to his senses.

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- Scholarship
- The golden, engraved dream document with the message "keep this n*****-boy running"
- Bledsoe's crappy letters of recommendation [later removed]
- Mary's coin bank
- His brotherhood identification
- The anonymous threat
- High school diploma
- Rinehart costume [the dark glasses]
- Clifton's doll

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"Well, there was only one thing to do if I was to make a torch. I'd have to open my brief case. In it were the only papers I had."

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"I realized that to light my way out I would have to burn every paper in the brief case... I began to scream, getting up in the darkness and plunging wildly about, bumping against walls, scattering coal, and in my anger extinguishing my feeble light."

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"'Not much,' I said, thinking loot? Loot? And suddenly I knew why it was heavy, remembering Mary's broken bank and the coins; and now I found myself opening the briefcase and dropping all my papers-my Brotherhood identification, the anonymous letter, along with Clifton's doll--into it." (539-540)

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Losing and finding the Briefcase Chapter 25

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Losing and finding the Briefcase Chapter 25

# data[].attributes.body
"I moved, feeling something slip and was half-way down the next flight of stairs before realizing that my briefcase was gone. For a second, I hesitated, but I'd had it too long to leave it now." (548)
"I bent over, holding on to the handrail, and shouldered my way back up the stairs, using my flash along each step, back slowly finding it, an oily footstep embedded with crushed pieces of plaster showing upon its leather side; getting it now and turning to bound down again. The oil won't come off easily..." (548-549)

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"I stood wiping my [bloody] hands against the briefcase..." (551)

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"The briefcase swung heavy against my leg as I ran, going away, Leaving Scofield cursing his lack of bullets behind me, running wildly and swinging the briefcase hard against the head of a dog that leaped at me..." (553)

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"And hearing his voice I opened my briefcase and searched for my dark glasses, my Rineharts, drawing them out only to see the crushed lenses fall to the street." (556-557)

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"'What's in the briefcase?' they said, and if they'd asked me anything else I might have stood still. But at the question a wave of shame and outrage shook me and I ran, still heading for Jack." (565)

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"Well, there was only one thing to do if I was to make a torch. I'd have to open my briefcase. In it were the only papers I had." (567)