Summary:
Ralph Ellison's 'Invisible Man'and the Invisible Man trying to find his identity in society.
Ellison's book, Invisible Man was written in the 1930s. It deals with the identity of a black man in white America. The narrator writes in first person, emphasizing his individual experience and events portrayed; though the narrator and the main character remain anonymous throughout the book, they go by the name Invisible Man. The character decides that the world is full of blind people and sleep walkers who cannot see him for who he really is, thus he calls himself the Invisible Man, though he is not truly invisible, it is just a refusal for others to see him. The Invisible Man remains the 'Invisible Man' through the book. Through a long and frustrating search, the Invisible Man hopes to answer questions that may be unanswerable. His account of that journey is what we follow. Although his search is not in vain, the Invisible Man finds a much different conclusion to his quest than he at first imagined.
The search begins with his desire to attend college. Education represented on opportunity to escape ignorance and poverty. The ability to attend the Negro college comes to him through hard work. As valedictorian of his high school class he receives a scholarship. He idolizes, Dr. Bledsoe, the president of the Negro College. He aspires to emulate Dr. Bledsoe at the conclusion of his educational journey. That journey is cut short and the Invisible Man leaves not only the college, but the South to continue his search in finding his identity; his identity being his ideal place in society as a black man, but because it he is a black man it is hard to communicate with other people because they will not give him the time of day, thus hinders his search for finding his self in the sense that you have to be able to communicate in order for people to notice you.
The Invisible man relocates to New York City, looking for himself and work. What he finds is more invisibility, but also a different racial tenor that was apparent in the South. It is a white man in fact who gives the Invisible Man a lead on a job in the paint factory. While at Liberty Paint, the Invisible Man finds another man like Dr. Bledsoe, and is no closer to finding himself than he was previously. His search is further hindered by an industrial accident. With a severe head wound and amnesia, the Invisible Man has lost all sense of himself and must begin again. Mary Rambo is his guide in the quest to reinvent himself.
Invisibility, in the story, is looked upon as a bad thing. While the Invisible Man thinks optimistically and uses his invisibility as a way to undermine people, or society. Though invisibility can not allow you to be powerful or have power of your own, it can bring you freedom, to allow you to go and do whatever it is that you may chose. The irony of it all comes out in the but begins in the beginning. The Invisible Man sleeps with the lights on. As the story goes along he adds more lights to his collection that he sleeps with. The symbolism in this is that a black man is sleeping with lights on to maybe further his visibility. The twist kicks in at the end when the Invisible Man falls into a dark hole. All of the time he wasted in the light trying to be visible was thrown away when he fell into that hole. One person becomes invisible because someone is blind. He should have thought of that at the beginning of his search so that he might have known that no one is ever truly visible to everyone.
The search for a definite identity has taken on a different path; it has not been in vain. His interaction with others both black and white have given him insight into human nature. While not at all of the insight has been positive, the Invisible Man has begun to feel less alone in his search for self. The denizens of his journey have left their mark on his psyche, and inhabit his memory. He discovers that the search for self is not a straight line from point A to point B, but a continuous and ever-changing reevaluation. It also becomes clear that not all men seek to discover self, but wear blindfolds to insulate themselves from others. The Invisible Man seeks to remove his blindfold and see himself as he is truly is.
This is the complete article, containing 751 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
