Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man

In Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man, to be born African American is to invite downfall and chaos in a world governed by whiteness. Ellison's narrator toils in obscurity and becomes de facto invisible. The Invisible Man is about the exclusion of self-illumination - darkness of the soul in the absence of identity.

Ellison makes repeated references to the black man's "cast down" (30) status. In a world where the exultation of skin pigmentation has reached a point where individual identity ceases to exist, the black American becomes invisible. Unseen by others, he cannot see himself. Through chameleon-like behavior, his attempts to establish a suitable face which society will acknowledge ultimately fail, and the black American is left even further removed from his true self.

Differences of perception within society and within the mind internalizing those perceptions drive a wedge between Ellison's narrator (known only as the "Invisible Man") and his sense of self. These differences are so extreme that the individual loses all identity. Not merely out of his element, he is invisible. The Invisible Man is an underground man existing in a dank netherworld of symbols whose substantive and human embodiments are denied by the higher powers that be. The true meaning of his invisibility becomes understood by the hero through his adventures as a black in a white world and through his stubborn denial that American society sees whiteness as near to Godliness and blackness a con

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the Invisible Man is continually confronted by the paradox of his perception and ignorance with his lack of being: He registers with his sense but short-circuits his brain. Nothing has meaning. He takes it in but doesn't digest it . . . Already he's learned not only to repress his emotions but his humanity. He's invisible, a walking personification of the Negative, the most perfect achievement of your dreams, sir! The mechanical man! (Ellison 72) The body is a sort of mechanical mask that individuals hide behind, creating the uncreated features of his face. "Creat[ing] the race by creating ourselves" (Ellison 346) is the only way to become whole. Images of electricity - the power and illumination generated - appear through the novel. The Monopolated Light and Power gives sight by turning on or off its 1,369 lights. The Invisible Man continues to pay homage to that light, even as its brilliance blocks out his very existence. The narrator's complicity in the system is part of what enslaves him. Repeatedly, as when the narrator joins the Brotherhood, he willingly falls prey to those who would strip him of his identity: "Individuals don't count for much; it's what the group wants, what the group does. Everyone here submer

Category: Literature - R