Identity in Invisible Man Essay

Invisible Man

What does a novel need in it to be a great piece of literature? There are the minor things like format, punctuation, and syntax. Then there are the major characteristics which include being timeless and timely, making the reader ask questions, and having universal themes that make the story relate to all. If you are judging by the classical novel standards then the book Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, is, in my opinion, an absolute masterpiece. The book starts out in the end, with the narrator in a basement alone. The story is the recounting of his past, from his innocence as an adolescent to his invisible adulthood. All along the way one experiences first hand what its like to be treated as invisible and as a cardboard cut out of a black man. The book is an astounding piece of literature because it makes the reader understand and feel the narrators pain.

Even though the book seems to take place in the early 1900s, the book is still relevant to todays society more than ever. Everyone has been automatically put into a group because of something they do or how they look. Its called stereotyping and its very common in todays culture as well as in the early 1900s. The narrator has been stereotyped and judged accordingly because he is black and smart. He is being stereotyped by people of other races but also by people of his own. His entire life he was forced to wear masks that covered up who he really was and was always seen as a

conforming, malleable black man. As he gets taken from one situation to another he is asking himself one of mankinds burning questions: Who am I?

If one starts asking questions about a novel while reading the novel it means that the book is interesting and the reader wants to know more. That is how a great piece of literature keeps one reading. This book makes the reader ask all sorts of questions. For example, the book never states the narrators name, so throughout the whole book you are wondering: Who is this man? The reason the reader is never told the narrators name is because it gives him a sense of ambiguity or invisibility and it helps put the reader into the place of the narrator. The Invisible Man keeps the reader interested by slowly revealing certain truths about racism. In the story, the narrator attends a Negro college. This is supposed to be a place of higher learning for the narrator, but he gets in trouble and is sent to Mr. Bledsoe, the college president. Mr. Bledsoe is also African American and he talks to the narrator firmly about where he stands in life. Mr. Bledsoe states that he got to where he is in life by being subservient to all the white people above him. He gives the white men what they want and he plays right into their stereotypes. Mr. Bledsoe is proud of where its gotten him and he says he would turn his back on every black person to assure that he stayed in power. This shows the reader its not always one race putting stereotypes on another but sometimes on themselves.

Society has always been divided up into different classes and sections. By being put into these different classes one can lose their sense of individuality. This is one of the major themes in the book and is portrayed very well. The narrator tries to find himself throughout the book but finds it harder and harder as he keeps getting new masks imposed upon him. The reason people keep giving him these masks to wear is because they only see what they want to see. (This blindness is found in almost every character in the book.) They avoid confronting the truths about others and about themselves. They refuse to accept their own shortcomings and this refusal in turn makes them blind to who they really are. An example of this blindness is found in Brother Jack who is the leader of this social action movement. He is blind to the narrators identity because Jack only sees him as a pawn in a much larger game. This is is implied by his glass eye. Since everyone in the narrators life has only seen him as they wanted to see him, the narrator got to the point where he didnt know who he was; he felt he was invisible. This was first discovered when the narrator wanted to walk the streets of Harlem unseen. He put on a trench coat, dark glasses, and a large hat and is confused as Rinehart the bookie, Rinehart the pimp, and Reverend Rinehart. That is when the narrator sees the advantages of being ambiguous and how he has been invisible all of his life. No one knew who he truly was, not even himself. He lets himself become truly invisible when he falls down into the sewer where the only source of light he has comes from burning the contents of his briefcase. The items in his briefcase each symbolized one of the stereotypes he was given and at this moment he lets them all go.

Even though you can classify novels by whether or not they have universal themes or are timeless, it still comes down to the individual readers opinion. The book went beyond my expectations. The book makes the reader think about where he stands in life and about the times he has felt invisible. One doesnt have to be black to identify with the narrator or appreciate it. This book gave me a new way to think about racism and I see more than I used to when I look at a black man.