The Invisible Quest

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.

Right from the commencement of the Invisible Man it’s as if all the odds in the world are constantly being thrown at the story's unnamed narrator. The main obstacle being the narrator’s skin color- as he is a black man in racist, 1930’s era America. It is this “obstacle” that has caused the narrator to be swallowed up in this feeling of banishment and sense of exile- fueled by racial tensions-which in turn becomes a eminent theme of the story’s plot and the narrator’s own life. As the narrator believes that society doesn’t recognize the black people of America (sense of exile), and demonstrates this with a prelude history lesson on the past his own grandparents endured as former slaves and how they now live as supposedly “free people.” These flashbacks reinstate the hatred and feeling the narrator feels as a member of an excommunicated minority group, yet at the same time counteracts the elated emotions the narrator is also trying to use as a facade to fool and win himself over in proving that he isn’t really as invisible as he feels in the world.

Firstly, the protagonist explains why he is invisible. He says that it is not a physical flaw of his own, but a mistake of the “inner eye” of others. There is something flawed in the way they see the world outside themselves. The protagonist also states that there are some advantages to remaining invisible, although sometimes he doubts if he, himself, really exists. “You weren't being smart, were you, boy?" he said, not unkindly. "No, sir!" "You sure that bit about 'equality' was a mistake?” (Ellison 25). Racial equality isn't allowed in Southern discussion. The protagonist begins his story of realization at the end of his high school days, as a smart and responsible student in a southern U.S. state. After

African American individuals still faced inhumane discrimination and were often not looked at as people, let alone cared for or acknowledged. To anyone else, their opinions did not matter and their lives were not valued. The 1930?s was also a time in which America was being rebuilt after the detrimental effects of the Great Depression. Furthermore, there was a greater presence of African Americans in northern states, which brought about racial tension from powerful white figures who did not want African Americans in what they believed to be ?their cities?. The struggle to find jobs was present all over, and African Americans found it even more difficult to support themselves. The narrator faced all these obstacles throughout the course of this novel.

Written in a brilliant way, Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man” captures the attention of the reader for its multi-layered perfection. The novel focuses an African American living in Harlem, New York. The novelist does not name his protagonist for a couple of reasons. One reason is to show his confusion of personal identity and the other to show he is “invisible”. Thus he becomes every Black American who is in search of their own identity. He is a true representative of the black community in America who is socially and psychologically dominated everywhere. The narrator is invisible to others because he is seen by the stereotypes rather than his true identity. He takes on several identities to find acceptance from his peers, but eventually

In the world today, there are many social issues that we deal with and one prone to the United States is racial division, which as controversial as it has been over the years it is still a concern in 2016. Being an African American man, I understood the concept of the theme, but as I read the book I was able to identify with the statement “I am an invisible man”(3).

Several times the author alludes to the narrator’s naivety and ignorance of how he, as a black man, was viewed in society. The narrator first shows that he believes he makes his own decisions, when in reality he is manipulated by white men at the club, “Blindfolded, I could no longer control my motions.”(p.22). Moreover, he thinks that his perception of the world is clear and is confused at the lack of respect he is afforded, “I was unused to darkness.”(p.21). By foul actions of the men the narrator looked up to, his bright world is destroyed and all that is left is the darkness; a brutal realization of what it means to be black.

The narrator in Invisible Man has the opportunity to take on numerous roles in this novel due to his invisibility. The narrator comes in contact with 3 main characters that greatly shape his life and make him the invisible man that he is. The white men from the ballroom, Dr. Herbert Bledsoe from the college, and the narrator’s grandfather all have a huge impact on the narrator’s life. In his novel, Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison uses the main characters to affect the narrator’s invisibility.

This emotion usually arises for the “invisible man” when someone refers to him as if he weren’t part of reality/society. For instance, while being present during a conversation, the “invisible man” was referred to as if he weren’t within earshot : "You see,” he said turning to Mr.Norton, “he has eyes and ears and a good distended African nose, but he fails to understand the simple facts of life. Understand.” The vet, who was referring to the “invisible man”, sees him as an individual who cannot interpret the transparent authenticity of life. He views the “invisible man” as an ignorant child ; despite being African American, the “invisible man” may not face the same struggles such as racism as the rest. The “invisible man” took this experience has an alienating venture which would end in damaging his view towards the future. Overall, when it comes down to being part of reality, the “invisible man” finds himself being excluded from

The book’s main focus is on the gradual disillusionment of the narrator and his personal battles. In particular, the book develops the battle the narrator faces when he discovers the truth about the Brotherhood organization. He eventually realizes that they are using him for their own purposes and encouraged him to incite the blacks to a riotous level so they will kill one another. The narrator develops feelings of hopelessness when it becomes apparent that he is being betrayed by both white and black cultures. His overwhelming feeling of emptiness comes to a climax when he falls into a manhole during a riot. While hibernating in the underground black community, the narrator struggles to find meaning in his invisibility and to come up with his true identity. The seclusion allows the reader to realize the disillusionment of the narrator. Ellison does an incredible job of getting inside the narrator’s character and describing his emotional battle. At times it feels as if the text is purely his thoughts transcribed directly onto the page. The narrator traces back his history

Ralph Ellison’s “The Invisible Man”, is a novel that reveals the characters psychological growth. Also, in this novel the story revolves around the narrator as an individual. In this novel the narrator relates the whole story in a first person point of view in which his name is never revealed. The narrator remains a voice throughout the entire novel, never establishing a concrete presence in the story. This is why he is looked at as an “invisible man.” In the novel, he is an African American who is extremely vulnerable to the pressure that society put upon him. The narrator in the story is a dynamic character who does not realize what is really going on around him. He also constantly ignores the truth about everything that is going

Yesterday, I snapped my fingers and realized that I had the capability of going invisible! Being invisible was beyond amazing. I felt as if I was the same but so different in the best way possible. Being invisible made everything feel not quite normal. I felt weaker yet stronger at the same time. Invisibility was a very deceitful quality for one to obtain. I didn’t want to be perceived as deceptive. I also considered that I may be bullied due to my abnormalities. I couldn’t explain the way I felt but I knew that I was terrified of this abnormal feeling.

In the novel, Invisible Man written by Ralph Ellison, the author uses distinguishable tones throughout the story with many different literary elements. The author links the devices to set a tone and purposely creates a sense of feelings and emotions which the protagonist is experiencing at the time in the novel. The narrator undergoes many of the dramatic events which affect the author’s tone and the character’s overall outlook on his life and society.

He didn’t understand why he was label as a “colored boy” or forced to go to a black school or sit in the “colored” section of the train. He didn’t understand why innocent black people were being killed at night. He didn’t understand the stories and events that happened in front of him but developed a fear of white people. Reading this real-life experience caused me to really think about the crap people had to go through: the constant fear of their lives, poverty, hunger, getting a lower pay or black tax, and the struggles of life in general. How black people couldn’t stay in a hospital post surgery but had to be taken to a colored hospital that is unsanitary and usually overpopulated with ill

The protagonist in Invisible Man evidently is suffering from the effects of madness due to his identity as a black man, living in American society during a time when blacks did not have very many options for advancement. Although he has high intelligence and a seemingly good start in his educational pursuits, his early optimistic beginnings in life have been an illusion. His sense of being excluded begins to form an alternate identity, where no one recognizes his positive qualities and all for no other reason than his skin color. Because he feels invisible in the culture, he does not even introduce himself to his readers with a name. “I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms…I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse