M. Annunziato
Invisible Man
Throughout this story we have been introduced to people and have been able to watch as they change and grow either through their experiences or simply through more information about them being available to us. The most prominent character in the Invisible Man is the nameless narrator. The narrator is the main focus in the book and we were able to observe him the most throughout the story. Brother Jack is the leader of the organization that calls itself “the Brotherhood” who claims that they are the voice of the people who have lost their heritage and past and convinces the naïve narrator to join into their shady and deceiving group.
The most prominent character of the story, the narrator, is nameless; this serves as a way for the reader to sink into the character even more than usual as there is no specific person that he is called. In the beginning of the story we see the narrator as a younger person with hopes of going to college. He is invited to a gathering to give a speech, which he loves to do, and almost against his will he is thrust into a boxing match that is very dangerous as every single boxer is blindfolded to enhance the entertainment for the drunken white men watching. He does not really want to fight but he doesn’t want to miss this speech opportunity more; so he fights. Midway through the brawl he realizes that he can lift up his blindfold a little bit so that he can see and protect himself. This scene shows that the character will do what it takes to come out on top and to save himself if needed. As the others stumbled blindly around him he swiftly sidestepped out of harm’s way until it was only him and one other man left. At this point the blindfolds were removed and he had to battle this person without any tricks. As the fight continues he repeatedly tries to offer his competitor deals to end the fight without any real injuries; here we were able to see his sly mind at work. Not wanting to be brutally beaten or embarrassed in front of everyone he wants the other man to take a fall and in return he can have all the prize money. He is looking out for himself and his future, a primal instinct of every human. In these early scenes, before the narrator comes face to face with the brotherhood we also see him as a very naïve young person who thinks the best of everyone with little to no ill thoughts. He is very clean cut and respectful of authority and those above him in society and maintains this affect even when there are very clear reasons as to why he shouldn’t.
As the plot progresses and the narrator grows we see him start to abandon his old ways. One occasion where this is extremely evident to me is the time where he is introduced to the idea of the Brotherhood and how he goes about handling the decision of whether or not to join. Unlike previous incidents where he was very thoughtful about everything, such as when he is driving the old man around his campus, he makes this decision in a very brash manner. It takes only a day after meeting the strange Brother Jack to join the group and what is even odder is how quickly he accepts their terms without a fight. One of reasons the narrator has acted so consciously up to this point is because of his grandfather’s words and his heritage; his dying grandfather spoke words of shame and sorrow on his death bed calling himself a traitor to his people for doing the things that he did and this very thought always invaded the narrator’s mind in every decision that he made. In order to be able to join the Brotherhood the narrator had to do one “simple” thing and that was to give up his entire life up to that point and pretend it never existed. He would be given a new name and a new life and without much consideration the narrator accepted. Here we can see how he shows signs of anxiousness to continue on with his life in the manner that he wants. In my opinion he acts this way because at this point he has nothing; he has no money, he is bumming shelter off of a close friend, and he has lost his education. If anyone were in this position most likely they would jump on it too, just to try to dig themselves out of a rut. He is still innocent at this point and thinks nothing of the racist group he has just joined. He is still blinded even without the blindfold on and this leads him to make poor choices.
Towards the end of the book the narrator actually starts to see as he is cast out from the Brotherhood and hunted by a strong opponent of the Brotherhood. At this point the narrator actually tries to become invisible to hide from danger that looms around every corner. He dons dark classes and a big coat and proceeds to the underground where no one knows him and he can be safe. In these pages we can see the character running away and I believe that he was actually also running from the person that he had become while in the Brotherhood. He wanted to disconnect with anything that posed a threat so he went into hiding and covered himself up. We can see here that he was afraid for his life but wasn’t going to give up. After hiding out for a little bit we see him realize that by hiding himself to the world he is also hiding himself from himself by not letting his true being shine through. It is almost as if he is a bright lamp with a sheet over it, unable to overcome the suffocating and oppressing sheet.
At this point we can look at the meaning of the title the Invisible Man. From the very beginning the narrator is invisible; we get a very indirect description of him, he is nameless, and he never steps out of the first person role for the world to observe him. While in the Brotherhood he is invisible because he is not allowed to show who he truly is, he is forced to hide behind a mask that the group gives him which covers up his past entirely. And at the end is where he is the most invisible in the entire book. He is in hiding from people trying to kill him so he covers up his entire body with big clothes and dark glasses. No one knows who he is what his story is and at that point that is what he wanted: solitude, safety, and security. The narrator proved to be a very complex character who grew and changed substantially over the course of the entire book.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
DShannon
AP English
Themes of Invisible Man
March 6, 2008
There are many important themes throughout Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man. Perhaps the most important theme of the novel is the suppression of all things related to African Americans by whites. This is obviously an important message to the reader from Ellison and is even echoed in the novel's title. Throughout the novel there are countless reference to this phenomenon which Ellison uses to clue the reader in to his plight.
One of the many ways that Ellison chooses to convey his theme to the reader is through the battle royal which takes place at the beginning of the novel. This portion of the novel portrays a despicable activity in the southern town that the protagonist is raised in. This serves to portray to the reader that whites take advantage of blacks and effectively use them for entertainment. This shows the domination that whites assert over blacks. The fact that this occurance was a school sponsored event shows how prevalent this attitude towards blacks was in the United States even decades after the civil war.
Another of the ways that Ellison chooses to express his theme of the domination of blacks in society by whites is the explosion that the protagonist endures while working at the paint factory. When the machinery that the protagonist is working with explodes, the room and himself are covered in white paint in what is symbolically an attempt for the company with a white owner to white-was the world.
The themes of Ellison's work are very accessible to readers. The themes in this novel are understandably important to Ellison and therefore are very well defined in the novel. Because of the accessibility of these themes, it is easy for the reader to grasp Ellison's meaning and come away from the work having learned something from the experience.
AP English
Themes of Invisible Man
March 6, 2008
There are many important themes throughout Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man. Perhaps the most important theme of the novel is the suppression of all things related to African Americans by whites. This is obviously an important message to the reader from Ellison and is even echoed in the novel's title. Throughout the novel there are countless reference to this phenomenon which Ellison uses to clue the reader in to his plight.
One of the many ways that Ellison chooses to convey his theme to the reader is through the battle royal which takes place at the beginning of the novel. This portion of the novel portrays a despicable activity in the southern town that the protagonist is raised in. This serves to portray to the reader that whites take advantage of blacks and effectively use them for entertainment. This shows the domination that whites assert over blacks. The fact that this occurance was a school sponsored event shows how prevalent this attitude towards blacks was in the United States even decades after the civil war.
Another of the ways that Ellison chooses to express his theme of the domination of blacks in society by whites is the explosion that the protagonist endures while working at the paint factory. When the machinery that the protagonist is working with explodes, the room and himself are covered in white paint in what is symbolically an attempt for the company with a white owner to white-was the world.
The themes of Ellison's work are very accessible to readers. The themes in this novel are understandably important to Ellison and therefore are very well defined in the novel. Because of the accessibility of these themes, it is easy for the reader to grasp Ellison's meaning and come away from the work having learned something from the experience.
A few last words...
Lindsey S.
The entire novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison passes some important points and insights into life to the reader. The first is invisibility. The novel seems to cause the reader to question not only the narrator’s existence, but also their own as well as everyone around them. Is anyone around us “invisible” similar to the narrator in the novel? If we think about it, the narrator believed he was invisible because his actions and thoughts were being misconstrued and used by the Brotherhood. Does anyone ever fall into this? Of course people do. Sometimes people choose to have their “true selves” be invisible or it is placed upon them by outside forces such as society, peers or school. This relates to Shakespeare ‘s The Merchant of Venice which we are in the middle of now and the occurrence of masks, whether physical masks or emotional masks.
There is one statement that I personally feel sums up the messages that Ellison was attempting to portray to the reader, whether purposefully or accidentally, while writing this novel. I feel it preaches to not trust everything at face value and that many things that we come across day-to-day are not what they truly seem to be. The narrator thought the Brotherhood was a respectable organization out to help the minorities of the world climb their way to a better standard of living. The narrator thought that Bledsoe truly wanted him to return to his university after gaining some job experience in New York City. The narrator truly believed that he could make a difference in the world and change what so many people believed was unable to correct. Every one of these things turned out to be lies. It was as if the world was against him, but he had no knowledge of it. This can be applied to life through everyday occurrences and things that as seniors graduating and ready to pursue college are experiencing. In respect to scholarships for college, how does one know if an organization is trustworthy to give personal information to and if they truly are going to consider you for a monetary prize? Some scholarship organizations can turn out to be a fraud. The Brotherhood was a fraud as well, in addition to Bledsoe.
The novel seems to be a journey of life: One, very long, tedious journey. Even though he crawls into “invisibility”, he is “not blind”. (576) This is where he feels he should be in life. He has searched through trials that all ended in failure and for once, he is where he is comfortable and cannot be deceived by another human being. This invisibility is not only a bad thing; it seems to be a good thing for him as well. The invisibility seems to allow him to see who he truly is without anyone else sneaking a peek. He doesn’t have to worry about someone taking advantage of him again by knowing his personality and weaknesses. He can live his life alone in invisible peace.
The entire novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison passes some important points and insights into life to the reader. The first is invisibility. The novel seems to cause the reader to question not only the narrator’s existence, but also their own as well as everyone around them. Is anyone around us “invisible” similar to the narrator in the novel? If we think about it, the narrator believed he was invisible because his actions and thoughts were being misconstrued and used by the Brotherhood. Does anyone ever fall into this? Of course people do. Sometimes people choose to have their “true selves” be invisible or it is placed upon them by outside forces such as society, peers or school. This relates to Shakespeare ‘s The Merchant of Venice which we are in the middle of now and the occurrence of masks, whether physical masks or emotional masks.
There is one statement that I personally feel sums up the messages that Ellison was attempting to portray to the reader, whether purposefully or accidentally, while writing this novel. I feel it preaches to not trust everything at face value and that many things that we come across day-to-day are not what they truly seem to be. The narrator thought the Brotherhood was a respectable organization out to help the minorities of the world climb their way to a better standard of living. The narrator thought that Bledsoe truly wanted him to return to his university after gaining some job experience in New York City. The narrator truly believed that he could make a difference in the world and change what so many people believed was unable to correct. Every one of these things turned out to be lies. It was as if the world was against him, but he had no knowledge of it. This can be applied to life through everyday occurrences and things that as seniors graduating and ready to pursue college are experiencing. In respect to scholarships for college, how does one know if an organization is trustworthy to give personal information to and if they truly are going to consider you for a monetary prize? Some scholarship organizations can turn out to be a fraud. The Brotherhood was a fraud as well, in addition to Bledsoe.
The novel seems to be a journey of life: One, very long, tedious journey. Even though he crawls into “invisibility”, he is “not blind”. (576) This is where he feels he should be in life. He has searched through trials that all ended in failure and for once, he is where he is comfortable and cannot be deceived by another human being. This invisibility is not only a bad thing; it seems to be a good thing for him as well. The invisibility seems to allow him to see who he truly is without anyone else sneaking a peek. He doesn’t have to worry about someone taking advantage of him again by knowing his personality and weaknesses. He can live his life alone in invisible peace.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Literary Elements and Techniques
Evan M.
All great novels are full of metaphors, symbols, underlying themes and various messages that we can learn from. Ralph Ellison's "The Invisible Man" has numerous literary elements throughout the book. The novels overall theme is repeated and emphasized all throughout it. Ellison makes it quite evident that he believes people are blind to many things. Also, Ellison talks of the "invisibility" of certain people, mainly African-Americans, or other minorities. I believe that Ellison is trying to open the readers mind to these topics and hopefully help change these ongoing problems that our country has become so accustomed to. This theme is one of the many literary elements that Ellison utilizes in his work.
In the beginning of the book, the narrator, who remains nameless, is forced to fight in a boxing ring. He is blindfolded, just like the others put in the ring, and survives untill the last round. The boys are used as entertainment for the white men. The blindfolds represent African-Americans inability to see the harsh racism that truly exists. The fact that they are forced to fight in a ring symbolizes how the white males portray them. The boys are stripped of their individuality and depicted as cruel, violent animals. After the fight, the narrator gives a speech that includes direct references to the views of Booker T. Washington. The narrator states that he believes if blacks work hard than the whites would grant them equality. Ellison emphasizes the "blindness" of the blacks and that they fail to see the intense and unchangeable racism. The speech includes allusions to Washington and the emphasis of the novels overall theme.
The narrator remembers his time at college where he idolized the statue of the schools founder who was a black man. The statue is described as cold and empty. The founder remains annonymous and I think that this symbolizes how black people exist but are overlooked and in societies eye, invisible. Ellison does not say his name just like the narrator or Booker T. Washington. The character of Mr. Norton represents the quintessential racist, rich ,white male that African Americans are blind to because of his clandestine racism.
Another symbolic character is the veteran. He is the only character to see the truth but he is labeled insane for seeing what is beneath the surface. Ellison used an old and wise character t osee the reality of racism and kept him nameless as well.
Finally, Ellison uses many literary elements and techniques throughout the novel. Various references are made, symbols, metaphor and images all help to emphasize Ellisons overall theme. I believe thsi problem still exists but I think that if we can all open our eyes to this conflict we may be able to coexist in a more equal society.
All great novels are full of metaphors, symbols, underlying themes and various messages that we can learn from. Ralph Ellison's "The Invisible Man" has numerous literary elements throughout the book. The novels overall theme is repeated and emphasized all throughout it. Ellison makes it quite evident that he believes people are blind to many things. Also, Ellison talks of the "invisibility" of certain people, mainly African-Americans, or other minorities. I believe that Ellison is trying to open the readers mind to these topics and hopefully help change these ongoing problems that our country has become so accustomed to. This theme is one of the many literary elements that Ellison utilizes in his work.
In the beginning of the book, the narrator, who remains nameless, is forced to fight in a boxing ring. He is blindfolded, just like the others put in the ring, and survives untill the last round. The boys are used as entertainment for the white men. The blindfolds represent African-Americans inability to see the harsh racism that truly exists. The fact that they are forced to fight in a ring symbolizes how the white males portray them. The boys are stripped of their individuality and depicted as cruel, violent animals. After the fight, the narrator gives a speech that includes direct references to the views of Booker T. Washington. The narrator states that he believes if blacks work hard than the whites would grant them equality. Ellison emphasizes the "blindness" of the blacks and that they fail to see the intense and unchangeable racism. The speech includes allusions to Washington and the emphasis of the novels overall theme.
The narrator remembers his time at college where he idolized the statue of the schools founder who was a black man. The statue is described as cold and empty. The founder remains annonymous and I think that this symbolizes how black people exist but are overlooked and in societies eye, invisible. Ellison does not say his name just like the narrator or Booker T. Washington. The character of Mr. Norton represents the quintessential racist, rich ,white male that African Americans are blind to because of his clandestine racism.
Another symbolic character is the veteran. He is the only character to see the truth but he is labeled insane for seeing what is beneath the surface. Ellison used an old and wise character t osee the reality of racism and kept him nameless as well.
Finally, Ellison uses many literary elements and techniques throughout the novel. Various references are made, symbols, metaphor and images all help to emphasize Ellisons overall theme. I believe thsi problem still exists but I think that if we can all open our eyes to this conflict we may be able to coexist in a more equal society.
Thematic Analysis
Lindsey S.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is a novel that contains numerous themes, which impact every aspect of the narrator’s life and fate of invisibility. From chapter 20 to the conclusion in the epilogue, although many smaller themes exist, one main one protrudes over the rest. This theme even influenced the narrator previous to his realization of it.
As stated in the previous blog by M Annunziato, the narrator is invited into an organization called The Brotherhood and quickly accepts their invitation. Although this organization at first glance appears to be fighting for the common good of the future and the repressed people, it truly is not. This organization manipulates the population, especially the narrator, in which we can observe very closely, for their own goals and wants. Although the Northern United States appeared to be far more advanced than the South in the matters of racial equality, this appearance was very deceiving. In the South, white men openly showed their discrimination against African Americans, where as in the North, the men hid theirs and used the African Americans to their advantage. This racism proves to cause the narrator to become unsure of his identity and crawl into his “invisibility”.
Although it seems quite strange that a man can become invisible, this invisibility involves the mind and thoughts of the people around him, not only the physical view. The narrator becomes invisible due to the limitations that The Brotherhood invisibly placed upon him. While the narrator believed he was freely fighting prejudices for the world, he was a “tool”. The Brotherhood only allowed him to do what they desired, guiding his efforts into the path they wanted, but guiding below the level to which the narrator could see. This guiding force caused the narrator to not be seen for who he truly is, thus causing the invisibility and his problems concerning his identity.
The narrator of the novel had been pushed to feel a certain way or to do a certain things by the Brotherhood. “And although I knew no one man could do much about it, I felt responsible. All our work had been very little, no great change had been made. And it was all my fault. I’d been so fascinated by the motion that I’d forgotten to measure what it was bringing forth. I’d been asleep, dreaming.” (444) This quote exemplifies how the Brotherhood had slanted the narrator’s thoughts to thinking that the world was his responsibility. They made him feel as if every incident that went wrong was his failure. These thoughts however, would not have been the narrator’s true thoughts had the Brotherhood not slanted them. This causes his identity crisis. “ Outside the Brotherhood we were outside history; but inside of it they didn’t see us.”(499) The Brotherhood enforced a code of how the Brothers behaved and thought. They refused to see the true person inside anyone, as well as to accept it, if it didn’t help them in their true plight. “It was not suicide, but murder. The committee had planned it. And I had helped, had been a tool. A tool just at the very moment I had thought myself free.” (553) This quote shows that the Brotherhood blinded the narrator from their true purpose, keeping racism intact by influencing him to cause greater racism in ways that seemed to do the contrary. He once again makes himself responsible for what is occurring, yet now realizes how he was used as “a tool”. He believed the North was freedom for African Americans, a thought that was obviously wrong, and the Brotherhood had used that mistake to their advantage. “I am invisible, not blind” is spoken by the narrator to show that although he is not acknowledged as the true him by the Brotherhood, he can see the person they are imprinting into him. (576) He can see the horrible things they are doing and the ways they are succeeding. . “Here I had thought they accepted me because they felt that color made no difference, when in reality it made no difference because they didn’t see either color or men…” (508) The narrator believed that the Brotherhood wanted white and black to be too colors of equal stance, but realizes that no matter what color anyone’s skin was, they truly did not care. They only cared for themselves and they manipulated anyone without even realizing who they were, but only changing them completely.
The Brotherhoods racism influences the narrator to question his identity and his existence as a person. “ ‘His name was Clifton and he was black and they shot him. Isn’t that enough to tell?’” portrays the racism that progressively forced into society by the Brotherhood. (456) The narrator begins to realize that the world is in this same scenario as Clifton. “He’s in the box and we’re in there with him’”. (458) All African Americans were placed into this “box” by the white men and the Brotherhood because of their desire for racial inequality, the opposite thing to which the African Americans thought to have been achieved. “Thus one of the greatest jokes in the world is the spectacle of the whites busy escaping blackness and be becoming blacker every day, and the blacks striving toward whiteness, becoming quite dull and gray.” (557) This quote basically sums up the effect to which the Brotherhood had on society as a whole. Their racism caused the blacks that were trying to stand next to the whites, into an area where they became “dull” or unnoticed, resulting in invisibility and the questioning of identity.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is a novel that contains numerous themes, which impact every aspect of the narrator’s life and fate of invisibility. From chapter 20 to the conclusion in the epilogue, although many smaller themes exist, one main one protrudes over the rest. This theme even influenced the narrator previous to his realization of it.
As stated in the previous blog by M Annunziato, the narrator is invited into an organization called The Brotherhood and quickly accepts their invitation. Although this organization at first glance appears to be fighting for the common good of the future and the repressed people, it truly is not. This organization manipulates the population, especially the narrator, in which we can observe very closely, for their own goals and wants. Although the Northern United States appeared to be far more advanced than the South in the matters of racial equality, this appearance was very deceiving. In the South, white men openly showed their discrimination against African Americans, where as in the North, the men hid theirs and used the African Americans to their advantage. This racism proves to cause the narrator to become unsure of his identity and crawl into his “invisibility”.
Although it seems quite strange that a man can become invisible, this invisibility involves the mind and thoughts of the people around him, not only the physical view. The narrator becomes invisible due to the limitations that The Brotherhood invisibly placed upon him. While the narrator believed he was freely fighting prejudices for the world, he was a “tool”. The Brotherhood only allowed him to do what they desired, guiding his efforts into the path they wanted, but guiding below the level to which the narrator could see. This guiding force caused the narrator to not be seen for who he truly is, thus causing the invisibility and his problems concerning his identity.
The narrator of the novel had been pushed to feel a certain way or to do a certain things by the Brotherhood. “And although I knew no one man could do much about it, I felt responsible. All our work had been very little, no great change had been made. And it was all my fault. I’d been so fascinated by the motion that I’d forgotten to measure what it was bringing forth. I’d been asleep, dreaming.” (444) This quote exemplifies how the Brotherhood had slanted the narrator’s thoughts to thinking that the world was his responsibility. They made him feel as if every incident that went wrong was his failure. These thoughts however, would not have been the narrator’s true thoughts had the Brotherhood not slanted them. This causes his identity crisis. “ Outside the Brotherhood we were outside history; but inside of it they didn’t see us.”(499) The Brotherhood enforced a code of how the Brothers behaved and thought. They refused to see the true person inside anyone, as well as to accept it, if it didn’t help them in their true plight. “It was not suicide, but murder. The committee had planned it. And I had helped, had been a tool. A tool just at the very moment I had thought myself free.” (553) This quote shows that the Brotherhood blinded the narrator from their true purpose, keeping racism intact by influencing him to cause greater racism in ways that seemed to do the contrary. He once again makes himself responsible for what is occurring, yet now realizes how he was used as “a tool”. He believed the North was freedom for African Americans, a thought that was obviously wrong, and the Brotherhood had used that mistake to their advantage. “I am invisible, not blind” is spoken by the narrator to show that although he is not acknowledged as the true him by the Brotherhood, he can see the person they are imprinting into him. (576) He can see the horrible things they are doing and the ways they are succeeding. . “Here I had thought they accepted me because they felt that color made no difference, when in reality it made no difference because they didn’t see either color or men…” (508) The narrator believed that the Brotherhood wanted white and black to be too colors of equal stance, but realizes that no matter what color anyone’s skin was, they truly did not care. They only cared for themselves and they manipulated anyone without even realizing who they were, but only changing them completely.
The Brotherhoods racism influences the narrator to question his identity and his existence as a person. “ ‘His name was Clifton and he was black and they shot him. Isn’t that enough to tell?’” portrays the racism that progressively forced into society by the Brotherhood. (456) The narrator begins to realize that the world is in this same scenario as Clifton. “He’s in the box and we’re in there with him’”. (458) All African Americans were placed into this “box” by the white men and the Brotherhood because of their desire for racial inequality, the opposite thing to which the African Americans thought to have been achieved. “Thus one of the greatest jokes in the world is the spectacle of the whites busy escaping blackness and be becoming blacker every day, and the blacks striving toward whiteness, becoming quite dull and gray.” (557) This quote basically sums up the effect to which the Brotherhood had on society as a whole. Their racism caused the blacks that were trying to stand next to the whites, into an area where they became “dull” or unnoticed, resulting in invisibility and the questioning of identity.
Structural Analysis
Lindsey S.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is structurally composed to engage the reader and cause one to question what they have previously read. The novel is primarily broken into three sections, although these sections are not cut clearly by Ellison, but are left to the reader. These three sections influence how the reader perceives the narrator and his journey to invisibility, as well as the development of the traits of the character. The first part of the novel tells the present life of the narrator. He lives in solitude, alone, and tells the reader of his invisibility. The next section follows to explain his complete path and his journey to invisibility. This section describes his life in the South, his family, his past, his education, his travels to the North and his encounters with the Brotherhood and Harlem. The end finally concludes with his present invisibility and his thoughts of the future as an “invisible man”.
By the reader knowing of the narrator’s invisibility at the beginning of the novel, not only from the title but also from the prologue, it gives the reader a path of thought to follow, such as the Brotherhood did to its “victims”. The reader seems to read looking for the clues and reason to why the narrator will at the end becoming invisible, trying to piece the clues together to make a final solution such as in a murder mystery. The middle of the novel, the story of his past life, really does not focus upon his invisibility whatsoever. It appears to be the story of a man’s life and all that encompasses it. His life appears to be normal, although influenced strongly by racial inequality and prejudices as he lives in the South. Upon arriving to the North, this section shows a new chapter in his life where virtually everything that was right in his past, takes a turn for the worst. In a sense, it makes the reader forget that the man becomes invisible because the intentions of the Brotherhood as well as Bledsoe’s intentions, which have been mentioned by Denis below, seem truly respectable. Not until the latter part of the novel is the reader thrown back into the upcoming invisibility, then causing them to reflect upon the past events in a different light. As said by the narrator, “the end is the beginning”.
The way in which Ellison split up the novel into the 25 chapters plus a prologue and an epilogue was significant to the progress of the character as well as the story as a whole. Ellison appeared to separate each important event and everything surrounding it into one separate chapter. This gave the reader a step-by-step outline of the events that progressed in his life. By each chapter as well, the character took one more step towards invisibility. The reader can scan back through the chapters and see how each chapter shaped the narrator a little bit more into the invisible man he was meant to become.
Finally, I feel as though the prologue and the epilogue contain the greatest significance in the structure of the novel than any other parts that fall in-between. As a reader, I know that many times people, as well as myself, commonly skip over prologues as well as epilogues when reading a novel that possibly we don’t have the sufficient time to read or don’t completely desire to read whatsoever. Although this may not have been purposeful by Ellison, I feel that by the narrator talking about his life as an “invisible man” in primarily the prologue and the epilogue, he placed them in the “invisible” chapters. Prologues and epilogues do not sit in the main body of the work, but outside it. The prologue and epilogue are in my opinion, the two most important parts of the novel due to how they portray the true meaning behind it. The narrator is “invisible” which causes great meaning to the plot, and the prologue and epilogue as not chapters are “invisible” which make the greatest meaning to the novel as a whole. Without these two parts, the novel would be the story of a man’s life as well as a little questioning of identity and invisibility, but not to the extent to with the prologue and the epilogue push it.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is structurally composed to engage the reader and cause one to question what they have previously read. The novel is primarily broken into three sections, although these sections are not cut clearly by Ellison, but are left to the reader. These three sections influence how the reader perceives the narrator and his journey to invisibility, as well as the development of the traits of the character. The first part of the novel tells the present life of the narrator. He lives in solitude, alone, and tells the reader of his invisibility. The next section follows to explain his complete path and his journey to invisibility. This section describes his life in the South, his family, his past, his education, his travels to the North and his encounters with the Brotherhood and Harlem. The end finally concludes with his present invisibility and his thoughts of the future as an “invisible man”.
By the reader knowing of the narrator’s invisibility at the beginning of the novel, not only from the title but also from the prologue, it gives the reader a path of thought to follow, such as the Brotherhood did to its “victims”. The reader seems to read looking for the clues and reason to why the narrator will at the end becoming invisible, trying to piece the clues together to make a final solution such as in a murder mystery. The middle of the novel, the story of his past life, really does not focus upon his invisibility whatsoever. It appears to be the story of a man’s life and all that encompasses it. His life appears to be normal, although influenced strongly by racial inequality and prejudices as he lives in the South. Upon arriving to the North, this section shows a new chapter in his life where virtually everything that was right in his past, takes a turn for the worst. In a sense, it makes the reader forget that the man becomes invisible because the intentions of the Brotherhood as well as Bledsoe’s intentions, which have been mentioned by Denis below, seem truly respectable. Not until the latter part of the novel is the reader thrown back into the upcoming invisibility, then causing them to reflect upon the past events in a different light. As said by the narrator, “the end is the beginning”.
The way in which Ellison split up the novel into the 25 chapters plus a prologue and an epilogue was significant to the progress of the character as well as the story as a whole. Ellison appeared to separate each important event and everything surrounding it into one separate chapter. This gave the reader a step-by-step outline of the events that progressed in his life. By each chapter as well, the character took one more step towards invisibility. The reader can scan back through the chapters and see how each chapter shaped the narrator a little bit more into the invisible man he was meant to become.
Finally, I feel as though the prologue and the epilogue contain the greatest significance in the structure of the novel than any other parts that fall in-between. As a reader, I know that many times people, as well as myself, commonly skip over prologues as well as epilogues when reading a novel that possibly we don’t have the sufficient time to read or don’t completely desire to read whatsoever. Although this may not have been purposeful by Ellison, I feel that by the narrator talking about his life as an “invisible man” in primarily the prologue and the epilogue, he placed them in the “invisible” chapters. Prologues and epilogues do not sit in the main body of the work, but outside it. The prologue and epilogue are in my opinion, the two most important parts of the novel due to how they portray the true meaning behind it. The narrator is “invisible” which causes great meaning to the plot, and the prologue and epilogue as not chapters are “invisible” which make the greatest meaning to the novel as a whole. Without these two parts, the novel would be the story of a man’s life as well as a little questioning of identity and invisibility, but not to the extent to with the prologue and the epilogue push it.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Reader Response
M. Annunziato
Invisible Man
The Invisible Man chapters 13-21 is a very interesting section of this novel. In this section the narrator joins a group that he knows almost nothing about with almost no hesitation; he does wait maybe a day to call his contact, Brother Jack, but this is a very miniscule amount of time considering what the group plans on doing with him. This group is the Brotherhood, an organization that claims to help be the voice of people who have been stripped of their heritage. When I first read this it seemed like a group that would beneift everyone: giving the narrator a steady job doing what he loved to do while helping out people that have been oppressed and put down by society. As we get to see the Brotherhood more and more we eventually realize that they are simply using the narrator as a tool; he is black so people under oppression will relate more with him than a white person. I find it odd that the narrator, who is not a dumb person, doesn't pick up on this from even the very beginning when someone asks if he's "black enough" suggesting that in order for him to be effective his skin needs to be as dark as possible.
Ralph Ellison has masterfully crafted this book: it is easy to read, easy to understand, interesting, and enjoyable. In one scene where the narrator is trying to dispose of the shattered remains of a bank to no avail it forshadows that something else will be stuck with him and that problems will persist in the future. He skillfully manages to insert events that the reader wouldn't assume would happen such as when he sleeps with the white woman who has been neglected.
Eventually, within these pages, the narrator finds himself at a much higher role in the Brotherhood and of much more importance as he becomes known around the area through his speeches. One of the first speeches he gives that helps put him in this position of power is when he gives a freeform speech after forgetting all that he had prepared because of the blinding lights on the stage. This speech happened to focus on blindness and how everyone needed to rise up and get back what belonged to them. This was peculiar because the narrator is not only literally blinded by the lights but also figuratively as he follows the ideology of the Brotherhood blindly without really ever second guessing it or even thinking too much about it.
Overall this book has been very captivating and interesting so far leaving me looking forward to continuing on in the story.
Invisible Man
The Invisible Man chapters 13-21 is a very interesting section of this novel. In this section the narrator joins a group that he knows almost nothing about with almost no hesitation; he does wait maybe a day to call his contact, Brother Jack, but this is a very miniscule amount of time considering what the group plans on doing with him. This group is the Brotherhood, an organization that claims to help be the voice of people who have been stripped of their heritage. When I first read this it seemed like a group that would beneift everyone: giving the narrator a steady job doing what he loved to do while helping out people that have been oppressed and put down by society. As we get to see the Brotherhood more and more we eventually realize that they are simply using the narrator as a tool; he is black so people under oppression will relate more with him than a white person. I find it odd that the narrator, who is not a dumb person, doesn't pick up on this from even the very beginning when someone asks if he's "black enough" suggesting that in order for him to be effective his skin needs to be as dark as possible.
Ralph Ellison has masterfully crafted this book: it is easy to read, easy to understand, interesting, and enjoyable. In one scene where the narrator is trying to dispose of the shattered remains of a bank to no avail it forshadows that something else will be stuck with him and that problems will persist in the future. He skillfully manages to insert events that the reader wouldn't assume would happen such as when he sleeps with the white woman who has been neglected.
Eventually, within these pages, the narrator finds himself at a much higher role in the Brotherhood and of much more importance as he becomes known around the area through his speeches. One of the first speeches he gives that helps put him in this position of power is when he gives a freeform speech after forgetting all that he had prepared because of the blinding lights on the stage. This speech happened to focus on blindness and how everyone needed to rise up and get back what belonged to them. This was peculiar because the narrator is not only literally blinded by the lights but also figuratively as he follows the ideology of the Brotherhood blindly without really ever second guessing it or even thinking too much about it.
Overall this book has been very captivating and interesting so far leaving me looking forward to continuing on in the story.
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