Introduction
The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is a story that depicts struggle and conflict between the Blackman against the white culture (Yaszek 297). The nameless black man is also seen to be invisible in the sense that he seems ignored by the white society. The invisibility of the man could also be attributed to the man’s race. As the events unfold, the audience can watch the interaction between the man with the society as well as the immediate people around him.
Having been written around the 1940s, the novel is a clear depiction of African-American experience at a time when socio-political turbulences were witnessed in America. Therefore, the concerns raised by Ellison are dominant in addressing the challenges that face almost everybody in the modern age (Yaszek 298). Most notably, this paper shall examine the topic of white privilege and its implications on the relationship between the African-Americans and the white Americans.
The invisible nameless narrator in the novel represents the many intelligent Africans, particularly of his generation. The story depicts the young man as being educated through all his ideals being disabused. The author uses symbolism and a rich base of metaphors to communicate the extent of racial discrimination in modern America (Yaszek 297).
White Privilege in the Growth Process
The narrator of the novel is a black man who resides in South America. Although at the setting of the story, the Africans were never slaves, whites still had a poisoned ideological perception of the blacks (Yaszek 297). For instance, the blacks were yet viewed as white servants where they were to perform their duties without hesitation. From the novel, it can be understood that the narrator faced continual spiritual shock in his growth process.
Most fundamentally, the narrator’s grandfather, in his advice to the family, says, ‘Son, after I am gone, I want you to keep up the good fight. I never told you, but our life is a war, and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy’s country ever since I give up my gun back in the reconstruction. Live with your head in the lion’s mouth. I want you to overcome’em with yeses, undermine’em with grins, agree’em to death and destruction. Let’em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open. Learn it to the young’uns.’ (Yaszek 297)
The grandfather’s opinion implies that black should often keep two identities. The first identity is that of pretense to be good slaves to the whites. On the other hand, blacks should consistently fight against the enforced slavery identity of the Africans (WANG and Ling XU 50). From the grandfather’s words, it can be deduced that the racial discrimination in America greatly influenced the socio-political growth of the African-Americans.
The Africans were aware of the bitterness and resentment that they suffered because they could not change the discrimination reality (WANG and Ling XU 52). Form the story, the growth process of Africans, including the narrator, can only be favored through being submissive and humble to the whites. Although the blacks had always wanted to have equal human rights with the whites, the former gave them a series of insults; therefore, the whites are more privileged when it comes to the growth process (Yaszek 299).
White Privilege in Social life
The author of the story also portrays white privilege in social life. For instance, the narrator begins to enter society upon being expelled from college. Racial discrimination is also exemplified in the bus in which the narrator boards to New Yolk (WANG and Ling XU 53). Even though the bus was vacant, he is made to sit at the end of the row because he is a Blackman. The white ideologies and feelings towards the Africans are exemplified when the narrator meets the vet whom he had been within the Golden Day.
The vet explains to the narrator the unfairness of the white society against the blacks. In this anti-realism novel, Ellison asserts the various human experiences, especially in the society where the unexpected keeps happening (Yaszek 297). The statements of the vet clearly illustrate the black men cannot have some social freedom like white men. Through the vet, racial discrimination is also portrayed since he advises the narrator to be his own master.
Although the opinion by the vet to the narrator was essential, particularly to a typical black, the invisible narrator does not take it seriously. He was interested in gaining recognition for being an educated black African with equal social rights as whites (Neimneh et al., 68). Regardless of the numerous relationships, he tries to build and the many places he goes, and the narrator consistently receive rejections and ignorance from the whites.
The concept of symbolic invisibility of the narrator is depicted at the onset of the novel. However, as the story comes to an end, the narrator becomes figuratively invisible. Ellison relates the invisibility in the book to mean the black (Yaszek 299). Thus, the invisibility term used in the book is ideally a metaphor that describes the oppression of the African-Americans throughout society.
It is important to note that the narrator gets to work in a factory where he gets injured because of boiled explosions. When he is sent to the hospital, the white doctors treat the narrator as a test object. He realizes that he is indeed an invisible man when the white doctors ask him of his name (Neimneh et al., 68). Upon leaving the hospital, the narrator is unable to find to return to the pain factory, and he notes how hard it is for an injured black man to get a job, particularly in the American Industrial Society.
Although the narrator underwent much pain and suffering within the Industrial society, no white man could notice him; thus, he had been labeled invisible, especially by the whites. The major challenge that the narrator continually faces in the societal setting is the mental traumas resulting from the psychological burden of being identified as a black (Yaszek 297). Most fundamentally, the narrator becomes a bit satisfied when he somehow finds out that he has an invisible identity, particularly to the surrounding.
Character Analysis
The main character of the novel is the narrator, who gives himself the title of the invisible man at the onset of the story (Neimneh et al., 68). The narrator proves his experience of invisibility throughout the book. The author has also intentionally concealed the identity of the invisible man as a strategy of communicating the thematic concern of the novel- racial discrimination.
The main narrator remains hidden throughout the book to unleash the discrimination meted on the African-Americans. Many authors often agree that the invisibility accorded to the narrator is much symbolic and metaphoric. Thus many traditional scholars cited the narrator as an Invisible Man.
The prominent theme for the novel, which is racial oppression, has been thoroughly covered through the invisible narrator. For instance, because he is black, he gets admitted and expelled from college while the other fellow students-whites remain in college. Although he likes science experiments, he gets hurt at the paint factory because of the perception that blacks are invisible. Racism in Ellison’s story has been exemplified in a multi-dimensional way through the narrator’s interaction.
The primary protagonist of the story, who is the narrator, gets invited to deliver a speech at a white party. The speech is centered on freedom, and he is forced to engage in in a The Battle Royal ‘as a part of the entertainment.’ (Neimneh et al., 69). However, the blacks see the act as much humiliating. The blindness in the book is also exemplified when the blacks accept to be blindfolded and humiliated by the white stereotypes. The blacks considered themselves inferior towards the whites, and they portrayed themselves as mere servants for the whites
Furthermore, the theme of stereotype has also been described in the novel. For instance, the narrator is faced with many stereotypes at the paint factory simply because he is black, thus invisible (Elkins 69). Although a majority of the workers at the paint factory were blacks, the whites still bragged about being the manufacturers of the perfect paints in America. Most of the ingredients that improve the quality of the colors produced in the factory are added by the invisible blacks, such as the narrator.
For instance, the incidents of invisibility and blindness have been presented in the novel using several metaphors and symbolism in the story. Most interestingly, the blacks do not realize their humble nature in the society, and their blindness leads them to fight against themselves instead of the whites (Elkins 70).
In the novel, the theme of stereotype is also exemplified in the Brotherhood since the white men manage most of the black organizations. Mary, who is also a female character in the novel, also faces stereotypes throughout the story. Being a mother figure in the book, the author uses her to demonstrate how the female characters could be used to go beyond the superficial folds of racial and social discrimination (Elkins 67). Unlike the whites, the blacks are unable to perceive their worth and esteem, for they are trapped into the blindness and prejudice meted on them by the whites.
The theme of white identity is self-discovery has also been exemplified in the novel. Most significantly, the aim of the book is identity, which is beyond culture, age, and race. Through the various experiences that the narrator goes through, he ultimately finds his status of being invisible (Lopez Miralles 60). Although the narrator tries to find his identity throughout the novel, he only comes to see his status at the end of the book. The author has also used color appropriately in work to differentiate between the blacks and the whites (Neimneh et al., 68).
The oppression of the blacks in the story has also resulted in alienation endured by the black folks since they were plucked from their native homes to a distant land only to be treated as slaves. The story continues to appreciate that even after the abolishment of slavery, the blacks were still deprived of their rights, thus growing a feeling of estrangement within America. Alienation of blacks has also become a key concern in the book (Lopez Miralles 58). For instance, isolation is portrayed in the book when society fails to recognize the existence of the narrator, even amidst his academic achievements (Elkins 70).
Identity Quest
The issue of identity has been one of the significant concerns of African Americans over the years. The book exposes the problems of social status among the whites and blacks, with the whites having more dominance in terms of culture and values than the blacks (Lopez Miralles 60). For instance, upon realizing that the society keeps neglecting him, the invisible man decides to assert himself to the blind white community.
The narrator says, ‘I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me…When they approach me, they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination -- indeed, everything and anything except Me.” (Lopez Miralles 63). The narrator implies that although he can notice whatever is going on in his surroundings, his actions remain unnoticed by the whites.
Such blindness of the whites emanates from the racial prejudice for the blacks since they are viewed as being inferior to the whites. However, the narrator is aware that he is in a society where his existence is rejected and disregarded (Lopez Miralles 64). Such feelings of rejection make him alienated from his real self. For instance, when he attempts to prove his value, he is meted with much hatred from society because he voices the truth.
