Compare And Contrast Bledsoe And Ralph Ellison

The novel also portrays the extremes of black leadership through the characters of Bledsoe and Ras. Bledsoe shows the "Uncle Tom" end of the spectrum. He demeans himself before whites in public in order to get ahead. Ras exemplifies the other end of the spectrum. He is a militant separatist who resents any blacks that associate with whites.

He claims that all parties involved were silenced and began to practice Washington’s teachings. DuBois sees Washington as a paradox that takes away the rights of the African American yet advocates for them to do better. He believes Washington is shifting the weight of the problem onto the African American people rather than everyone as a whole. 2.

W.E.B. Dubois was the rivaling civil rights leader during the early 20th century. W.E.B. Dubois believed that through political action and education, full-citizenship of African Americans in America would be achieved. At first, he agreed with Booker T. Washington’s teachings, however through time Dubois realized flaws within Washington’s ideas. Dubois, in “Soul of Black Folk” writes, “The black men of America have a duty to perform, a duty stern and delicate, -- a forward movement to oppose a part of the work of their greatest leader. So far as Mr. Washington peaches

Dubois writings, unlike Washington’s writings survived aging and sounds modern. Both Dubois and Washington, however, wanted the best for their people, both were sincerely engaged in racial uplift, and therefore in the end neither was “right” or “wrong.” Indeed, Washington’s ideas fitted the era that he lived in and Dubois ideas the future.

The differences, according to Baldwin, between northern and southern Whites’ on race were northerners ignored the evidence of poverty endured in many public housing areas; whereas, southerners understood and continued to watch over Negroes. Both groups felt a sense of superiority over African-Americans. Baldwin suggests the country’s view of race could only change if the north takes responsibility and changes so in fact the south would follow.

Dr. Bledsoe describes himself as a god; ”You’re nobody, son. You don 't exist – can 't you see that? The white folk tell everybody what to think – except men like me. … Because I don’t owe anyone anything son, who Negroes? Negroes don’t control this school or much anything else, nor white folks either, haven’t you learned anything but I control it.” (143) Dr. Bledsoe is the epitome of manipulative and deceitful. He not only goes against the black population but he also goes against the very people that gave him his position, the whites. He is quite delusional, as he believes that he is the man who controls the trustees and not the other way around. His ideas are flawed, and he believes that he is truly in power. Once his position at the college is in jeopardy, he quickly takes measures to dismiss such threat.

Dr. Bledsoe believes that black people must lie and act like stereotypical black people in front of white people in order to gain power in society; likewise, Dr. Bledsoe believes that black people should act with the upmost respect in from of white people in order to gain power. However, the narrator’s grandfather believes that black people should stand up and defy white people in order to gain rights and fight oppression.

"They can’t read,” Calpurnia,“Can’t read? All those folks?”(165) This is Scout finding out that most black people in Maycomb cannot read and write which show how ignorant, and clueless white people are in terms of the unfair treating that is happening in the community. Consequently, prejudice does not only impact a person but also the society

   I am an invisible man. With these five words, Ralph Ellison ignited the literary world with a work that commanded the respect of scholars everywhere and opened the floodgates for dialogue about the role of African-Americans in American society, the blindness that drove the nation to prejudice, and racial pluralism as a forum for recognizing the interconnection between all members of society regardless of race.

A major aspect of the early Civil Rights movement in the 20th century was the emergence of black communism. In the North, the Communist Party consisted of black and white members that criticized Jim Crow laws. In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, he portrayed the corruption concealed in the party’s structure, via the narrator’s involvement in the Brotherhood. The narrator was appointed as the spokesman for a communist coalition in Harlem. His experience in the Brotherhood caused him to be alienated from black society as well as the adoption of a restrictive, yet deceptive ideology.

In the 19th century, many things were changing. During the post reconstruction era, technology and industry became more prevalent, more land was founded for the United States and people fought for civil equality; in particular, the black population. In the later 1800’s, black empowerment was on the rise. As slavery cease to exist and the newly freed slaves were introduced to American Society, many were uncomfortable about how to strive in a world were they were constantly oppressed. Booker T. Washington, an educator at the time, believed the black Americans had to earn their way into society through education and accept minor segregation if it meant in the future, they are fully integrated. W.E.B. DuBois, a scholar, however, believe their rights were unalienable just like others and people of color had to be accepted no matter what. Despite being so similar in the ideas and practices of empowering people of color, Washington’s views of how to empower the black population through hard work into society was more compelling for the time.

Bledsoe depended on the support of “white” men in the community. Ellison using the statement adds to the idea that in order for any achievements such as a job to be completed, the whites have to be respected. With living life in New York, Invisible Man has been working hard to give the letters to his “white” employers. Most of the letters have been refused so he wishes for Mr. Norton to help him: “Finally I tried to reach the important men by telephone, only to receive polite refusals by their secretaries...I thought of Mr. Norton. If only the last letter had been addressed to him” (169). Ellison uses Mr. Norton as a symbol for the blindness of African Americans with the topic of oppression from the white community. Invisible Man, at his lows, wishes upon a white man to save the day in order to achieve a job. His idea of employment means that the white man has to grant the ability to work. While meeting with the person of the last letter, Mr. Emerson, Invisible Man was able to finally read the material that Dr. Bledsoe wrote: “‘What did I do? I always tried to do the right thing’...’I only wanted to return and help” (191-192). Ellison represents Invisible Man’s blindness through repetition of questions and past tense

I also think it is interesting how the idea of racial prejudice is still foreign to the narrator. I am not sure why, but I think the author might be trying to show the narrator's ignorance towards racial prejudice. I think that as the story goes on that the effect of being blinded will start to subside, and the narrator will see the world for how it actually is.

The narrator faces many struggles in the beginning of the book that lead to the idea of exile and the fact that the narrator is perhaps, invisible. Dr. Bledsoe does a good job of manipulating the narrator into thinking he is welcomed at the University early on. You can tell from his personality that he is only in it for himself but acts as though he is thoughtful towards other. “You're nobody, son. You don't exist – can't you see that? The white folk tell everybody what to think – except men like me. I tell them; that's my life, telling white folk how to think about the things I know about… But you listen to me: I didn't make it, and I know that I can't change it. But I've made my place in it and I'll have every Negro in the country hanging on tree limbs by morning if it means staying where I am.” Sending the narrator off to New York was his manipulative way of saying you’re not welcome here, and giving him seven letters was just the icing on the cake to making finding “success” more difficult. The narrator is unable to see that Dr. Bledsoe is solely doing this for his own benefit and is not looking at the interest of the narrator.

Ellison 's chapter 1 of Invisible Man depicts a sad but all too common reality for Black men in 1952 America. The unnamed main character is dehumanized and humiliated simply because he is Black, yet praised for being a "good" Negro. He and his classmates are first beaten down and harassed then given money as compensation for a show in which they were forced to be participants. The saddest thing is not what these white men put them through, but that these black boys, the invisible man in particular, accept their humiliation and powerlessness. They accept their place in society, a place that was given to them and not chosen for themselves.