The Invisible Man, By Louis Armstrong

into a man in the poor city slums and all of the issues that a black man has to

One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.

The dominant white male of the story speaks the following statement, "Now I like the colored people, and sympathize with all this reasonable aspirations; but you and I both know, John, that in this country the Negro must remain subordinate and can never expect to be equal of white men" (373). This is a fundamental sentiment that white people in the American society during that time held on to. In this essay W.E.B DuBois shows how this black man, John, was treated in his hometown after returning home with a college education. Both blacks and whites reject his new views. However, to whites the black John represents a devaluing of the college education. If a black person can have a college degree, then having a college degree must not have value. After this reaction from society John started to think, "John Jones, you're a natural born fool" (369). This behavior from society kept the average black person stagnant, and unmotivated.

The struggles of many black is should never be described lightly. Many african americans were treated like animals and never was given the respected deserved. In the story, Battle Royal, by Ralph Ellison, a young African American man is trying to fit into white society that holds majority of blacks back. During the beginning, the narrator is bewildered by his grandfather 's last words. His grandfather spoke out about being a traitor in front of his family. The family was confused and concerned about the remarks that the grandfather 's had made. His words have been kept behind his mind. Soon after the grandfather death, the narrator is anticipated to give a speech at his high school graduation party located in the nearest local hotel. Little does he know, he is forced to participates in a duel between other young American men in his class in front of local white leaders. Throughout the fight the young African man becomes very concerned about giving his speech. Through the story of battle royal, the author sends the message of the struggle of poor treatment to color people and shows being meekly will help your situation.

essential to the reading of the narrator’s struggle with his own identity and how the black

On the day Charlie was fifty years old, after years of abuse by his overbearing white boss Beau, he said “I been ‘bused enough” (Gaines 189). Charlie reached his breaking point and Beau was soon in the weeds, dead. After he killed Beau Boutan, Charlie ran away, similarly to how he had avoided his problems for his whole life. However after he ran away, he soon came back and proclaimed “I’m a man,” (Gaines 186). Charlie was not only speaking to the sheriff and white people, but more importantly, to the old black men. Charlie wanted to foster the confidence of the black men, helping them to understand that a change was coming. On this hot, sweltering “Friday” (Gaines 166), Charlie stood up and proclaimed “they comes a day when a man must be a man.” (Gaines 189) and for Charlie, that day was today. Even though Charlie knew he was facing a life and death decision by standing up against Beau, he still stood up and faced his problems. After explaining the story of Beau’s death, “a deep, all-heart, true grin, a grin from a man [Charlie] who had been a boy fifty years.” (Gaines 193) sprouted from Charlie’s lips, a grin telling the world that he was a black man and proud. After Charlie’s confession he became the bravest man in the conflict between Tee Jack and his chums and the plantation workers. In one day Charlie transformed from a fearful boy into a fearless man. Today, the other black

The narrator meets the demands of his boss, Mr. Norton that upset Dr. Bledsoe, the president at the college. "He ordered you. Dammit, white folk are always giving orders, it 's a habit with them. Why didn 't you make an excuse? Couldn 't you say they had sickness – smallpox – or picked another cabin? My God, boy! You 're black and living in the South – did you forget how to lie?" (102)

“If a White man became a Negro, what adjustments would he have to make?” (Griffin pg. 2) First published in 1961, Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin is moving yet troubling autobiography about a privileged white man in America who has taken on the role of a Black man, a much more deprived status. Griffin is narrator, author, protagonist and main character. From both a black and white perspective, the writer hopes to better understand and convey what life was like for the African-American’s at the time. The writer is passionately committed to the cause of racial injustice, and his concern and despair emanate through the well-written journal-type pages. His descriptive writing making the reader feel they are with him throughout.

He is forced to fight at this “battle royale” as he calls it, and with a mouthful of blood delivers his speech. As he is coughing on his own blood, he accidentally switches the words “social responsibility” with “social equality,” infuriating the white men there. He hastily insists it was a mistake, and after all of that, he receives a scholarship to go to a black college. He rushes home so proud, and stands in front of his grandfather’s portrait, feeling triumphant (Ellison, 30-33). He followed his grandfather’s advice of doing as he was told, but at that point has yet to realizes why that makes him a traitor. As he is faced with more challenges and more racism the narrator begins to understand why simply doing what is wanted of him to get ahead is traitorous. At his college, the President is a black man named Dr. Bledsoe. This man has used servility to get ahead in life, and when faced with the narrator, rather than attempting to help another black man succeed, he purposely squanders his chances of success. At this point, the narrator begins to understand what it means to be a traitor to your race. After being sent away from school and sabotaged by Dr. Bledsoe, his perspective on people, racism, and his own identity begins to shift.

This encounter causes him to distance himself fully from his race and his final decision to pass. The narrator gives up his dream of making music for the sake of African Americans because he does not want to be “identified with people that could with impunity be treated worse than animals.” Although, throughout the narrative, the narrator does not fully reject his African American roots he states “I finally made up my mind that I would neither disclaim the black race nor claim the white race; but I would change my name, rise a moustache, and let the world take me for what it would; that it was not necessary to go about with a label of inferiority pasted across my forehead” (Johnson 139). As the narrator life goes on, he begins to feel regretful for holding himself back from his African American roots. If he decided to not pass as a white man, he could have embraced the African American societies in which could have potentially made a difference. This racial identity crisis, of not knowing what could happen with being either or race, prevented the narrator from pursuing his dream of becoming a musician, just to be a mediocre white businessman. The narrator had given up his talent just for safety and advantageous white men had during this

The entertainment not only came from the black men fighting over coins, but little did the blacks know, the rug was electrified. The narrator tells us “I lunged for a yellow coin lying on the blue design of the carpet, touching it and sending a surprised shriek to join the rising around me. I tried to frantically to remove my hand but could not let go. A hot, violent force tore though my body, shaking me like wet rat. The rug was electrified.” (27). The white men make the narrator feel inferior to them by making him the course of their entertainment. They make him feel ashamed and worthless. His feeling of invisibility not only comes from the belittling remarks they make, and what he has to do, but also the thought that the whites have that much control over what he is doing.

He learns that he is considered as a second class citizen. And how in society thinks that any colored person is lesser than a white man or woman. He goes home and speaks to his family about this. “So wherever i go i would be treated differently to other just because i’m black,why?’ he asks. His father tells him that he asked his father the same thing “why do i have to be treated differently just because i'm black?. My father told me that some people can’t see the ignorances in this and that we have to fight for what's right,because we're the only one who see’s the wrong in this and not other’s” James father Mark said. James looks at him with a flame in his eye and says “So it’s up to us to show people that we are all the same and it doesn't matter what our color is”. He’s father shakes his head yes and tells him “You’re blessed with the skin you have for a reason son. You are the one to show everyone that we all work as one to make the world better”. James takes what his father words to the heart. He gets the education he needs even as he faces jim crow. James goes off to college and get his masters in communication. James was one of the one’s who spoke for all black people when fighting for the same rights as everyone else. By the 1960’s James helped end Jim crows laws and he said “The only one who will stand up for you is you.So dont stand aside and whatch things happen make things

Life is full of loss and you cannot avoid experiencing it and well as sorrow. As people grow up they come to realize that the world is not as it seemed to be when they were younger. They get more independent and their perspective of life changes. They will have to realize that they are not going to live forever. In the short story The Hurt Man, written by Wendell Berry and published in 2003, we meet Mat who learns all of this.

The Struggle for an Invisible Man Ellison’s Invisible man is about a man who struggles to find his place in a racist society. His character goes on a plummet from being forced to literally fight to get into college, to being kicked out of the college. After that he moved to the city but was not finding a job he could keep. Then he became a part of the brotherhood, where he was making speeches for the black society. Throughout all of this, Ellison makes the character go through an identity crisis where he faces extreme stereotypes that go against who the character is trying to be, yet strangely also represent his life in a way. As said in an essay, “Invisible Man is full of symbols that reinforce the oppressive power of white society.”(Free) It is my belief that one of Ellison’s main themes of the book is finding individuality in racism. Another theme that I would want to look into is letting other peoples thoughts hold you down. Through Ellison’s use of symbols, metaphors, and thought provoking writing style, the book has many sections that help sort through these two themes.

    The narrator describes a vision he had while he was listening to Louis Armstrong, exploring back into the history of slavery. He his introduced in an intangible voice , someone who has lost his specification through the society . The narrator casts back on an earlier period of the 20th century, encouraging that a newly educated black class felt guilty of a past that was no flaw of its own. The narrator's  granddad emerged  to be in this line hoping to forget the history of slavery, but on his deathbed reveals that the struggle against white oppression is still continuing .