(You can find a detailed audiovisual analysis here: https://youtu.be/R3nlPnEHcCs).
TITLE SIGNIFICANCE
The novel portrays the agonies of racial discrimination suffered by Black Americans in the racist American society of the1930s. The title “Invisible Man” underscores the problem of lack of identity that faced a black African in that society during the period in question. The narrator introduces himself as “an invisible man”. As he noted, he is invisible “simply because people refuse to see me.” The unwillingness of people to notice him highlights the gravity of racial discrimination that the black Americans experienced. It shows the extent to which the white Americans oppressed the blacks in that society.
SETTING
The novel is set in America in the 1930s. The events in the story begin in the American South where the narrator (Invisible Man) is born and brought up, and then shift to a nearby Negro College. When he is expelled from the Negro College, he moves to Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City where he initially lives in a boarding room, and later in his own apartment. He eventually ends up in a manhole underground. The settings and the incidents narrated in the novel portray the agonies of the African Americans in the racist American society of the twentieth century.
OVERVIEW
The novel, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, uses invisibility as a metaphor for the degradation and inhumanity suffered by the African Americans in the racist American society of the period in focus. The story is told in a first-person narrative point of view by a nameless narrative, the “invisible man” who recounts his experiences in form of dreams and memories using various flashbacks. The novel exposes the evils of racial discrimination against the black people, which rendered them virtually invisible within their own country. It can be said to be an existential novel, as it raises the question of human existence and the choices available to an individual within a chaotic and oppressive environment. The story revolves around a nameless young black man in a 20th century American society where the black people are so oppressed that the young black man can survive only through pretense. According to him, the people he comes in contact with “see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination.” As a black man, he was “invisible” to them. When he moves from the racist South to New York City, the situation remains sad. At last, he resorts to a hole in the ground, which he makes his home.
SUMMARY
The narrator of Invisible Man is a nameless young black man who moves in a 20th-century United States where racial discrimination deprives a black man of his identity and where he can survive only through pretense. Because the people he encounters “see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination,” he is effectively invisible. He moves from the American South to New York City, but his encounters continue to disgust him. Ultimately, he retreats to a hole in the ground, which he furnishes and makes his home. The novel is a portrayal of the lost or invisible identity of the black people in the racist American society. The protagonist, the Invisible Man, experiences a serious identity crisis as a consequence of the racial discrimination against the black people there. He is the first-person narrator of the story, and he remains nameless, recounting his sad experiences retrospectively. The novel gives us the picture of a young, college-educated black man struggling to survive and succeed in a white-dominated racist society that does not even recognize him as a human being. The narrator states that he is invisible simply because other people in that society (the white Americans) refuse to take notice of his existence. Through the experiences of the protagonist (the Invisible Man), Ralph Ellison addresses some of the social and intellectual issues confronting the black Americans in the twentieth century, such as black nationalism, the relationship between black identity and Marxism, lack of personal identity, and so forth. The novel ends with the narrator reiterating that he has remained underground ever since. He finally resolves to accept his individual complexity and recognize his own identity in spite of the oppressive environment in which he finds himself.
CHARACTERIZATION
THE INVISIBLE MAN: He is the narrator of the story as well as the protagonist of the novel. As a young black man, he believes he is invisible because he discovers that the people refuse to notice him or regard him as a fellow citizen. Although he comes in contact with or interacts with people in the society, yet there is a racial barrier that makes it impossible for him to enjoy full rights as a citizen like the white Americans. Because he is black, people always view him from the perspective of his race and all the stereotypes associated with being black in a white-dominated racist American society. Nobody sees his real value or identifies him as an individual who possesses certain personal qualities.
MR. NORTON: He is an old white man and co-founder of the college from which the narrator is expelled. The invisible man gets into trouble the day he drives Mr. Norton to some places around the school at the old man’s request. This eventually leads to the narrator’s expulsion from the school by Dr. Bledsoe.
DR. BLEDSOE: He is the dean of the college where the narrator is schooling. Dr. Bledsoe is someone greatly admired by the narrator because he is a fellow black man who has achieved great academic success. After expelling the narrator, Dr. Bledsoe gives the narrator some letters with the false assurance they are letters of recommendation to help him get a job; on the contrary, those letters are meant to demean the narrator.
BROTHER JACK: He is a local leader of the Communist party who appoints the narrator as a speaker for the community in Harlem.
GRANDFATHER: He is the narrator’s grandfather. He is remembered as someone who had expressed deep regrets for his habitual loyalty to the racist white authority instead of standing up for himself. This revelation worries the narrator as he realizes that as a black man he cannot succeed in that society unless he gains the approval of the white people.
TRUBLOOD: He is a black man who accidentally gets into an incestuous relationship with his own daughter. His action incurs the wrath of his fellow blacks who stigmatize him but he is ironically supported by the white people in that community.
MR. EMERSON: He is a trustee of the school in New York, whom the narrator goes to see. When the narrator meets with Mr. Emerson’s son instead, the young man sympathetically reveals to the narrator the truth about the so-called letters of recommendation.
BROCKWAY: He is a black man who works in the engine room at Liberty Paints. He is the narrator’s boss for a day until the narrator is in some sort of accident in the room where the paint base is made and is taken to the factory hospital.
MARY: She is a kind black woman in whose house the narrator rent a room where he lives until he joins the Communists and moves away.
BROTHER HAMBRO: He is a well-educated Communist who trains the new speakers in Communist doctrine. The narrator trains with Hambro for several months before he is allowed to give public speeches again.
CLIFTON: He is a strong and passionate young activist in the Harlem district, and the narrator is initially threatened by Clifton’s presence.
RAS THE EXHORTER: He is a Black Nationalist agitator who is angry with the black men of the Communist party because he believes they are traitors to their race. He condemns their willingness to act as puppets to the white men.
RINEHEART: He is a con-artist who takes advantage of the people of Harlem in his roles as a bookie, a gambler, a lover, and a preacher. The narrator is mistaken for Rineheart when he disguises himself in dark glasses and a big hat.
SYBIL: She is the wife of a committee member of the Brotherhood, and the narrator sleeps with her in an attempt to get information that could help him destroy the Brotherhood. Sybil, however, has no useful information for him.
THEMES:
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION: As a black man living in a racist society, the invisible man is denied the basic rights of a citizen. He faces discrimination to point of being “invisible” in his own society. The novel is a depiction of the oppression and deprivation face by the Black Africans in the racist American society of the twentieth century.
LACK OF IDENTITY OR INVISIBILITY: Throughout the novel, we find the young black man (the invisible man) searching for his identity, totally at a loss as to who he is. As far as he is concerned, he is totally invisible to the society, since nobody in that society takes note of him or treats him as a human being.
RACISM AS A BARRIER TO PERSONAL IDENTITY: The novel paints a picture of a racist society where being a black man means being invisible or without any personal identity.
For a more detailed audiovisual analysis of the novel, watch the following video lecture: https://youtu.be/R3nlPnEHcCs
EBOOKS TO HELP YOU GAIN PROFICIENCY IN ENGLISH:
- Good Success in English: A Study Package or Good Success in English: A Study Package for Effective English Learning
- Good Success English Handbook
About the Author
Benjamin Abugu is a university graduate with a flair for content writing. He is an English teacher with over twelve years experience, a published author of many books (both paperback and eBook editions), a blogger and Youtuber.
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