The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison Analysis

Document Type:Essay

Subject Area:Literature

Document 1

He has earned many awards during his lifetime for the works he has published, though he is famous for the “Invisible Man. ” The theme of Black Nationalism is the most common in the entire novel. This is in a way the promotion of a separate national status that gives the Black Americans an identity of their own. The unknown narrator does struggle to achieve his identity, but it is impossible to find himself without understanding the background of his racial heritage. This story is set in the 1930s when racism was a more significant issue than it is in the current generation. ” (3) (Pericles and Hamlet). The narrator tries to show us that he was aware of his condition and he understood what the people surrounding him thought about his life.

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He is seen to be a bitter man when he bumps into a man in the streets and then assaults him. The narrator also claims to be living in a hole that is in the basement of Harlem which has lights that are not in the electric company’s grid system (Ellison) The narrator recalls of his high school graduation, where he attracted the attention of a white superintendent who went ahead and invited him to deliver a speech at a local hotel. On the day of the speech, he is forced to engage in a blindfolded fight with some of his negro colleagues to entertain the white men before he delivers the speech. I felt a sudden fit of blind terror as I was not used to darkness” (Ellison 21).

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This shows that the white men were degrading the black people and using them as objects of entertainment rather than as fellow human beings. Every event that occurs at the beginning of the story shows us the issues of Black Nativity, and the author takes us through incidences that indicate the African Americans are not in the same level with the Caucasians. “Black anger and pride were only a part of the broad collection of the novel by Ellison, as it covers the whole life of African-Americans” (Dickens and Morris, 30). All these can be seen in the degrading incidence where he is forced to fight his fellow Negros and in the way he is embarrassed while on stage. This is a similar character to that which had been proposed by the narrator’s grandfather.

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Bledsoe thus seems to be identical to the old man. He is a real representation of racial politics that happen in the higher institutions since he behaves like a small figure when before the Whites. The narrator is hurt by his expulsion and also the hypocrisy of Bledsoe (Michael and Cohen, 2014). Dr Bledsoe instead of imparting the students with courage and the knowledge that they can use in the outside world, he stresses the idea of White supremacy in everything he does. This is similar to the beliefs of Marcus Garvey. The sentiments of Ras, however, correlate to the ideology of Black elitism. The Black elites are ready to pursue their success in the United States which is dominated by Whites while, on the other hand, Ras believes that they can be great leaders back in Africa (Anzawa and Riza, 2014).

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There is a group known as the Brotherhood that opposes the ideas of Ras and also some of the themes that prevail in the novel. The Brotherhood appears to be very compassionate and mindful of the Black American problems. He becomes an accomplished leader and speaker in the Harlem district, and this happens through the assistance of the Brotherhood. He manages to address the issue of blindness as he delivers a speech to blacks in one of the city rallies. Ellison states that “I went toward the microphone, entering the spot of light that surrounded me like a seamless cage of stainless steel. I halted. The light was so strong that I could not see the audience anymore, there were many human faces” (Ellison, 341).

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