Themes In The Invisible Man

Many people wonder what it would be like if they were to be invisible; stealthily walking around, eavesdropping on conversations, and living as if nothing is of their concern. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, is centred on an unnamed fictional character who believes himself to be, indeed, invisible to the rest of the world. He is not invisible in the physical sense, but socially and intellectually. As the book develops, readers are able to experience an authentic recollection of what life is as a black man living in a white man’s world. This man wants to achieve so much, but is severely limited by the colour of his skin. This novel, which has become a classic, addresses the themes of blindness in fighting stereotypes and predestined

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.

The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man depicts the narrator as a liminal character. Beginning with an oblivious knowledge of race as a child, and which racial group he belonged, to his well knowing of “white” and “black” and the ability to pass as both. On the account of liminality, the narrator is presenting himself as an outsider. Because he is both a “white” and “black” male, he does not fit in with either racial group. In the autobiography of an Ex-colored man, James Weldon Johnson uses double consciousness to show the narrators stance as a person that gives up his birthright for the “privilege of whiteness”.

A lack of self-awareness tended the narrator’s life to seem frustrating and compelling to the reader. This lack often led him to offer generalizations about ““colored” people” without seeing them as human beings. He would often forget his own “colored” roots when doing so. He vacillated between intelligence and naivete, weak and strong will, identification with other African-Americans and a complete disavowal of them. He had a very difficult time making a decision for his life without hesitating and wondering if it would be the right one.

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.

The story The Invisible Man is written by Ralph Ellison. The author takes his personal experiences as an ignored man and creates this character that shows the characteristics of a man whom few people would stop to acknowledge. This story can be seen as a symbol of an educated black man whose life has been controlled and oppressed by a white society. Throughout the story one will notice that the man is nameless. The is because the narrator in The Invisible Man is invisible not only to others but himself as well because of racism and trying to live up to expectations of others. There are certain tools that are given to him by outsiders and things he will use that will ultimately develop him into student and man. The author has written about events that made the invisible man who he was. It is important to notice that the invisible man has been searching for his identity the whole time and will later discover that his identity is in those things he has always had.

Paper as a motif, in the Invisible Man carries a significant amount of power among oppressed people, changing their observed appearance or derailing their future. Paper is a recurring motif the the Invisible man, whether it be a newspaper, letters, or money; All of these items are extremely delicate items, but carry such a large weight in this time period. Money is obviously used for purchasing items, in a time when mainly the rich were white people, but also the people on the physical bills were white men. Newspaper was the number one way to receive information, and almost everyone read it daily, specifically the Wall Street Journal was the most desired paper of white trade brokers. Finally, letters were an important way of communication at

The Invisible Man develops insecurities because he isolates himself from society. He uses his wealth as well as his new identity to become isolated. From this isolation he feels

The invisible man begins to feel limitless and superior to average man, he feels that “an invisible man is a man of power” (Wells). Being invisible and the subsequent notion of invincibility causes the invisible man to act as he pleases as his inhibitions disappear as the fear of being reprimanded is removed. The absence of consequences strips away the good in Griffin’s nature and fosters his madness as he starts stealing from the markets and begins his spree of breaking into houses.

The idea of double consciousness, termed by W.E.B. Du Bois, for African Americans deals with the notion that one’s self has duality in being black and American. It is the attempt to reconcile two cultures that make up the identity of black men and women. One can only see through the eyes of another. A veil exists in this idea, where one has limits in how he or she can see or be seen. This individual is invisible to the onlookers of the veil, and those onlookers may be invisible to the individual. This then alters how one can truly interpret their conscious. This concept is one that has been explored in various themes of literature,

Invisible Man begins with the narrator telling the reader how he is invisible and how he accepts it, saying, “When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination-indeed, everything and anything except me,” (Ellison 23).

    At first, the narrator cannot grasp that his grandfather was fighting against oppression in his work he was compliant to white men. But as he progresses as a student the denials of the system become more clear it is not clear if white men wish for him to advance or not. The narrator’s  worldview has become more

The novel Invisible Man centers on the narrator as struggles to find himself as a young adult. The first person narrator throughout the novel is faced with an upheaval of antagonists. The antagonists are white men, extremist groups, and previous mentors who disagree with the narrator’s point of view, and or his actions. These people continually use him for their own purposes which cause a drastic character development for the narrator. In the end, the narrator realizes the best way to accomplish change is to undergo an invisible facade; by that he must have numerous personas on hand to cater to different people’s ego. Basically, to be the invisible man is to know yours and other figures purposes to use this information for your own means.

Shake him, shake him, you cannot break him For he’s Sambo, the dancing, Sambo, the prancing Sambo, the entrancing, Sambo Boogie Woogie paper doll. And all for twenty-five cents, the quarter of a dollar … Ladies and Gentlemen, he’ll bring you joy, step up and meet him, Sambo the – (Ellison).

1. The chief difference between Wyeth's painting and Wall's photography is that the former acts as a complement to aid the readers' understanding of the general story, while the latter acts as that of the protagonists' life, in the point of view of the protagonist (in this case,) himself. As the text says, the former, though more popular than the text itself, becomes "less meaningful" without the original documents, because the synthesis of the Literature and the illustration is what provides the readers with the full experience of the book—to imagine and be entertained by a story that does not usually happen (393). To go further, the reader cannot live in it; the reader can only use it as to help one's imagination/experience of the said fiction