We’re introduced to the Invisible man at the start of the novel as a figure who struggles with the worlds view on him. In his mind, the world has turned his existence into a meaningless venture. “You ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world, that you’re apart […]
Pulling at the Strings: The Manipulation of the African American Race Through History
Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man is wrought with symbols that accurately depict the conditions African American’s faced in 1930’s Harlem. One of the most iconic symbols from the novel is the Sambo Doll, a pitch black puppet, manipulated by the strings attached to it. Tod Clifton masterly manipulates this symbol of the degradation of the ‘stereotypical’ African American […]
“I Yam What I Am.”
Lost in thought while walking down the street, the narrator is struck by the scent of yams, which he explains reminds him of home. This I find to be a pivotal scene of the novel, transporting us from our typical narrative scenario and instead focusing in on the narrator’s senses and what that means for […]
The Lasting Obsession with Battle Royales
Something that struck me during my reading of Invisible Man happened before I even got to the actual story. I didn’t realize why the term “Battle Royale” stuck out to me in the introduction, written by Ellison in 1981, but after reading through more of the novel, and spending all of Spring break in […]
Painting America White
KEEP AMERICA PURE WITH LIBERTY PAINTS Chapter 10 begins with the narrator’s new job at Liberty Paints, a paint factory specializing in a characteristic white paint. Color serves as a thinly-veiled criticism of the white dominance defining the United States at the time. Purity is a recurring theme in Invisible Man. By reading this slogan, […]
The Brotherhood, The Communist Party
It is widely known that Ralph Ellison was taken by the message of the Communist Party in the 30s. He eventually would be at odds with the Party, ultimately questioning their motivations, much like his narrator does with the Brotherhood in Invisible Man. In The New Yorker, David Denby writes, “[Ellison] drew close to the Communist Party in the […]
Invisible Man Still Matters
“Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison deals with a wide range of issues African Americans face in the early 1900s. The novel presents us with a character who is invisible because of his race. The issues presented in the novel of racism that the characters face, gives us a very real look into a lot of […]
Micro-aggressions in Invisible Man
This novel is a complex novel that covers racism in almost every light, north and south, light and dark. In this novel however, there is a stark difference in the racism our narrator experiances in Harlem, rather than in the deep south. In Harlem he is littered with micro-aggressions. The most prominent example being in […]
Activism Across the Atlantic
Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man draws attention to racial issues faced by blacks in the 1900’s and continues to be a relevant text today. Ellison comments on the reactions of whites and how the black community has adapted and conducts itself. We’ve discussed this in class, but one of Ellison’s biggest themes is the clash between the ideas […]
Gaining and keeping power in a world run by white men
In the 6th chapter of the novel, Dr. Bledsoe scolds the narrator for driving Mr. Norton to the slums (141-143). These pages and the exchange between the two characters stood out to me. For me it provided a glimpse into the realities of a minority gaining power in that era and then doing whatever he […]