Upon finishing Invisible Man, I considered the connections between the book and the attributes of a hero.  I ran into trouble here because there is no true hero in this book.  The narrator is the main character but is defintely not a hero.  He is maybe one of the farthest things from a hero, and in that lies the answer to my question.  The narrator repressents so much that a hero is not, that he paints a picture of what a hero should be.  These traits of taking responsibility, sacrificing yourself for others, and standing up for what is right are not apparent in the narrator's character.  Because this novel was written long after Oedipus Rex and King Henry IV it shows that the attributes of a hero do not change over tme because those attributes are represented by an almost anti-hero.  By being a follower, and allowing others to decide what his identity is, the narrator illustrates one of the most anti-hero sentiments.  Heroes are confident, so times overly, but they do not allow someone else to dictate what thier purpose is.  This fundamental choice to be the hero or not is found in so many stories.  Batman, Superman, Iron Man, Hulk, all make the choice between standing up for others, and putting themself on the line, or letting society choose what they will become.  The narrator in this story never makes his own choice, but simply waits for others to make it for him.  A instance where this is displayed is when the narrator is expelled from the university.  When Bledsoe goes on his rant and expels him, the narrator is fuirious and upset and shows signs that he might rebel and stand up for himseff.  He instead rationalizes the decision and agrees that it is the right choice.  He simply allows for Bledsoe to choose the path on which he will walk.  Another situation where the narrator displays his lack of conviction is when he gets trapped in the manhole.  Sure, there are physical obsracles that are hard to overcome here, but instead of trying to fight his way out and perservere, he accepts his fate and destroys the things that attatch him to the world.  The narrator almost represents the opposite of what a hero is.  Due to this, Ellison paints a picture using negative space to show what a hero should be.  This is why I think that the attributes of a hero do not change over time because of the time period in which Invisible Man takes place.