Another "mole people" question

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
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The January 9 question about “mole people” makes this comparison: “homeless people who live in subway tunnels, sucking down electricity and other resources for free a la Ellison’s Invisible Man.”

I never read Invisible Man (shame on me), but I did read “The Man Who Lived Underground”, a short story, almost a novella, by Richard Wright. Might this be what “Gina G.” was thinking of? Or did the protagonist of Invisible Man also spend some time in subway tunnels?

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Mole people column.

At the end of Invisible Man, he falls down a manhole, can’t get out, evaluates his life, and eventually chooses to stay underground.

http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmInvisible50.asp

My understanding is that it was not meant to be literal “he went and lived in the subway tunnels” Omega Man sci-fi stuff, but that it was meant to be symbolic. So I dunno what Gina G. is talking about, exactly.

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I see. Thank you.