Stereotypes Of Race : ' I Am An Invisible Man '

Racism is an issue that blacks face, and have faced throughout history directly and indirectly. Ralph Ellison has done a great job in demonstrating the effects of racism on individual identity through a black narrator. Throughout the story, Ellison provides several examples of what the narrator faced in trying to make his-self visible and acceptable in the white culture. Ellison engages the reader so deeply in the occurrences through the narrator’s agony, confusion, and ambiguity. In order to understand the narrators plight, and to see things through his eyes, it is important to understand that main characters of the story which contributes to his plight as well as the era in which the story takes place.

From the beginning of the story, we are shown racial inequalities. Ellison introduces us to our character who is a broke and hungry African American economically struggling to save his lady friend’s, Laura’s, life. The protagonist “got no birth certificate to

Situated in New York, especially in Harlem, the narrator of Invisible Man felt the effects of large amounts of racism and adversity. According to Alexander LaFosta, researcher of social standings in the 1930?s, racism was largely prevalent across most of America. African Americans had a very difficult time finding jobs, were forced to live in very cramped spaces, and were subjected to piteous education standards. The narrator lived in a time in which people like him were looked down upon. He was not treated respectfully, and that had a profound psychological effect on him. Consequently, his assumption that he was not entirely seen was justified because of the society he lived in.

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.

Every story has characters that shape the protagonist and highlight different aspects of their personality. These characters aren’t necessarily always antagonists, they’re people that push our main character to evolve and drag out their true personality. Our main character in the invisible man, the narrator (aka the Invisible Man) encounters many of these people who impact him, causing him to grow up from the naïve young man he was. With each of these interactions and incidents, you witness the narrator learn and change. From Brother Jack to Tod Clifton they all have impacts on our narrator, but Dr. Bledsoe and Mary Rambo are the two crucial people in his life.

Throughout all of the history of the United States of America, race has been a prevailing issue. Although the ways in which racism presented itself has changed, the prevalence of the problem has not. Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man does an excellent job of allowing some insight into the way racism has and still does impact the life and self identity of affected individuals. In this book, the narrator is faced with the challenges that come with being an African American in mid 1900s. The struggle first becomes something the narrator is aware of when his grandfather utters some troubling advice on his deathbed. He said in order to succeed in a white man’s world, you have to

“Damn Trueblood. It was his fault. If we hadn’t sat in the sun so long Mr. Norton would not have needed whiskey and I wouldn’t have gone to the Golden Day. And why would they act that way with a white man in the house” (Ellison 98). The invisible man shows us his thought

Dr. A. Herbert Bledsoe is the president at the state college for Negroes, that the narrator attends. Dr. Bledsoe is very selfish and ambitious. He shows his confidence through his posture and through everything he does. He is very conceited and has to take notice in not only himself, but his work. The narrator explains “As we approached a mirror Dr. Bledsoe stopped and composed his angry face like a sculptor, making it a bland mask, leaving only the sparkle of his eyes to betray the emotion that I had seen only a moment before. He looked steadily at himself for a moment…” (102). He is only concerned with the authority he holds and the power that comes with

I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. . . . That invisibility to which I refer occurs because of a peculiar disposition of the eyes of those with whom I come in contact. A matter of the construction of their inner eyes, those eyes with which they look through

Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man makes many valuable points about the treatment of black men at the hands of white America. However, in examining stereotypes and issues that effect black men, Ellison does not fully examine other groups who experience discrimination. While the protagonist does seem to understand that he occupies a similar position in society to white women, the women themselves do not get a chance to fully articulate their thoughts on the matter. Additionally, black women have even less of a presence in the novel and issues relating to them are never discussed. While Ellison’s nameless protagonist defies many stereotypes about black men and embarks on a journey toward consciousness, female characters in the novel are used as a tool to help the protagonist achieve this and they do not gain visibility for themselves.

In this journey our main character also see’s the many faces of the black man, and how all of these faces where created in response to the actions of the white man never in response to one’s own actions. Towards the end of the novel the main character finds himself in a difficult predicament as he is being hounded by men who want him dead. Despite this, he manages to find a pair of glasses and a huge hat which he believes would disguise him just enough so that he can escape his potential murderers. As he walks around Harlem in his new guise, many begin to confuse him for someone called Rinehart who seems to be bookie, a pimp, and a preacher all at once. The ability to be so many things is at first attractive to the main character as he slowly begins to sink into the role of Rinehart, however he soon realizes that Rinehart’s multiple identities are merely a reflection of his inauthenthicity. Rinehart has no true self-consciousness and has allowed for others to create his image for him; Rinehart is only identified in the novel by others, never by himself. Rinehart’s character is representative of the notion of Double Consciousness as it shows the black men without the ability or better yet the privilege of self identity.

      Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man was published at a time when America was racially divided.  The novel presents the theme of the lack of black identity – a theme supported by the fact that the protagonist, Invisible Man, has no name.  The reader knows the names of Dr. Bledsoe, Ras-the-Exhorter, Brother Jack and others - but the reader does not know the name of the main character.  Ellison's leaves it to the reader to decide who he is and, on a larger scale, how white America perceives black America.

Bledsoe's real identity.  The narrator is blind to the fact that Dr. Bledsoe is not the proper person that his image exerts.  On the outside, Dr. Bledsoe appears to be well educated and appropriate.  But on the inside, Dr. Bledsoe is truly a hypocritical bastard.  While in front of the white donors to the college, Dr. Bledsoe is friendly, amendable, and caring of their needs.  However, when these white men's backs are turned, Dr. Bledsoe is uncouth, offensive, and horrid towards them.  "  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" (143).  Dr. Bledsoe also tells the narrator "...the only way to please a white man is to tell him a lie!"  (139).    Dr. Bledsoe creates this persona of a proper man and he puts on a mask to fit the demands of the important white contributors to the college.  He is trying to pass off as someone he is not and the narrator is too blind to see this.

He lets himself be ridiculed by turning into a puppet for the ignorant white men for entertainment purposes. Still, he holds onto the assumption that if he degrades himself, he will be rewarded in the end. As a result, the narrator does not advance in his journey to find his identity, but rather degrades himself even more and makes him dependent on other’s opinions.

Stereotypes have existed since humans first began to roam the planet. Early Australopithecus, the first humans, most likely used stereotypes when deciding their daily task. Stereotypes such as everything are dangerous and want to kill them. Later as Homo sapiens created cities and civilianization’s stereotypes helped evaluate an incoming threat so they could close the city and gather a defense to save not only themselves but everything they worked hard to create from those who would kill them and take the city from them. But modern human’s ability to perceive threats have been clouded by stereotypes base on skin color; to a point where anyone who is different is a threat who needs to be eliminated. A proactive human whose flight or fight response is to fight will sometimes attack this perceived threat without any other information aside from the stereotype. These attacks can sometimes lead to the arrest or death of the “threat” who, in most cases, was an innocent in the wrong place at the wrong time. So while stereotypes where essential to survival in early cultures, modern use of stereotypes have turned to the extremes clouded by hatred of those who are different.