Introduction
People rely on what is seen, the visual aspect of this world to enhance the process of learning. Ralph Ellison the author of this wonderful work persuasively notes that this is just but a dangerous habit. The book “Invisible Man” is one of those wonderful American books that have challenged many readers ever since it was released in 1952. The novel addresses social and intellectual issues that African Americans were going through during the early periods of the 20th century. Some of those challenges includes; racism and poor relationship between the blacks and the whites, the black nationalism among others. The novel was ranked Invisible Man nineteenth and it was named as the best novel of 20th century winning National Book Award for Fiction.
Plot summary:
The narrator tells the story while appearing as an invisible man. He narrates that he is invisible in that others have failed to see him. This made him to hide from the rest of the world. He claims to be staying underway and stealing power as well as writing his life history and his invisibility while underground.
In the early 1930s, the narrator was a young man living in the south. As a good public speaker, he is invited to his hometown to give a speech to a group of white men. The white men give him a briefcase containing scholarship to a college as a gift after compelling him to fight in a royal battle against young black men. That night, he had a dream about his scholarship.
After three years, he joins the college where he is asked to drive Mr. Norton around campus. Norton talks about Jim True blood, a black man who impregnated his daughter. After the story, the narrator takes Norton to the golden day, a brothel that serves black people, to have a drink. At the bar, a group of mentally challenged black veterans fights. The veteran who tended Norton taunts the narrator and Mr. Norton for being so blind about race relations. At the college, the narrator listens to a long sermon delivered by reverend homer who appears to be glorifying the founder of the college. Dr. Bledsoe he college president chastise the narrator. He says that the narrator should have shown a black life that is idealized. The president expels the narrator. The narrator is given seven recommendation letters to take to a college trustee in New York.
The narrator travels to Harlem to look for a job but could not get any. The recommendation letters did not help at. Finally, the narrator goes to Mr. Emerson’s office with a recommendation letter. He meets Emerson’s son. The son opens the letter and informs the narrator that the letter had betrayed them by portraying them as unreliable and dishonorable. With the help of the son, the narrator gets a low-paying job at a paints plant as an assistant to the paint maker, Luscious Brockway. Brockway suspects the narrator of joining union activities. This causes a fight between the two and in the process, a paint tank explodes knocking the narrator unconscious. The narrator becomes the spokesman of brotherhood.
When the narrator wakes up he finds himself in a hospital having temporarily lost memory and could not speak. After being discharged from hospital he collapses in the street. The narrator goes and lives with Mary a kind woman. He trains in rhetoric and immediately assigned a branch where he meets Tod Clifton, a leader of the black youths. The narrator is sent to Brother Hambro to learn the new strategies of Brotherhood.
The narrator arrives in Harlem and finds that race relations were still raising agitation among the people. He decides to seduce a woman who was very close to one of Brotherhoods leader so that he could obtain secret information that that is useful in undermining the organization. Unfortunately, the woman knows nothing in regard to the organization. He receives a phone call asking him to go back to Harlem since Ras had incited a riot. He decides to take part in the crime by setting a building on fire.
Two police officers arrive. The narrator attempts to evade them but unfortunately falls into a manhole. The police covered the manhole. The narrator says that he has lived underground since then and he is now ready to emerge. Ellison’s invisible man is still relevant even in today’s world.
Characters
The novel makes use of a long, complex, and colorful character to present his ideas. Most of them are simple common citizens going on with their daily lives. The characters used in this play include; The grandfather the character whom the narrator refers to as ancestor and spiritual father. It is through him that the narrator got the revelation to write the novel. Grandfather is only heard from the narrator’s memories. School superintendent is identified as the white man inviting the narrator for a speech during the high school graduation where he was leading the program. He later awards him with variety of rewards for being part of the battle royal. He gives him calfskin, briefcase, and more importantly scholarship to go and study in Negroes. Jacksonis the most brutal man described in the novel. He perpetuates racism and other forms of discrimination. Tatlock is one of the biggest boys among the ten to participate in the royal battle. He got the privileged to participate with the narrator in the much dreaded in the much dreaded bloody boxing. Mr. Norton is a white Northern citizen who plays out to be caring and liberal. Other minor characters include; the founder, D.r Hebert Bledsoe, Rev. Homer A. Barbee, Jim True blood, Kate and Matty among others.
Styles
Symbolism
Ralph Ellison uses several symbols in the novel to deliver his message. Dreams and visions symbolize the power of subconscious mind of the human brain. It also shows the narrator running away from the reality seeking refuge at the days she he was still a child at college which recurred in his mind as he listens to music. He tries to merge dreams and reality using the narrator to explain the wide disparities that exists between the the blacks and the whites using titles like, black life and myth of American dream. The calfskin symbolizes psychological baggage. He uses other symbols like colors, numbers, machines, and machines.
Other style, which plays out in the novel, includes; Puns. These include word or words sounding like alike to bring out juxtaposition or to bring connection. They include trigger/nigger, ras/race, yam/iam, Rambo/sambo among others. Hyperbole which is an extreme exaggeration to effect something for example, I have told you million times
Humor uses unique terms creating good language. They include, bledsoing, which refers to sunglasses. Irony is the use of a word opposite of what is believed to be true. Repetition this is the use of refrain for instance in the novel repeating of the word “What do I do to be so black and blue?”
Themes
Education is a key element in that it sets up was you should go next; basically, nowadays with no papers it will be hard to secure a job. Within the novel the narrator is depicted as an individual, whose desire is to acquire knowledge in fact he secured a scholarship to study in ma college after he had given out a speech. Conflict is a theme that is depicted in the novel, the narrator has conflict within himself and with others in that when he was accidentally hit by a man he was too aggressiveness to handle the matter he even almost killed the other person.Racism comes out in the novel; it is discriminating someone based on his color and considering oneself as superior to the other. in the novel the issue of racism is depicted in that the narrator is embarrassed by the white men who tells him to spit on fellow black men. He also way scolded by being told let the nigger run, the issue also was shown when blacks were employed as cheap laboriousness when the whites went on strike.
Works Cited
Adleman, Jeanne, and Gloria M. Enguidanos-Clark. Racism in the Lives of Women: Testimony, Theory and Guides to Antiracist Practice. New York: Haworth Press, 1995. Print.
Chesler, Mark A, Amanda E. Lewis, and James E. Crowfoot. Challenging Racism in Higher Education: Promoting Justice. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. Print.
Ellison, Ralph, and Robert G. O'Meally. Living with Music: Ralph Ellison's Jazz Writings. New York: Modern Library, 2001. Print.
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Modern Library, 1994. Print.
Gates, Henry L, and Gene A. Jarrett. The New Negro: Readings on Race, Representation, and African American Culture, 1892-1938. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2007. Print.
Hall, Ronald E. Racism in the 21st Century: An. New York: Springer, 2008. Print.
King, C R. The Native American Mascot Controversy: A Handbook. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2010. Print.
Lyman, Stanford M. Color, Culture, Civilization: Race and Minority Issues in American Society. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994. Print.
