Introduction
The international fame of Ralph Ellison was achieved when he wrote the ‘Invisible Man’ novel. The book deals with various mental and social themes through different metaphors and symbols. Ellison is not only a black man but an America that searches for the existence of the technological society characterized by a sudden change. The ‘Invisible Man’ book is a story comprising of various experiences through which the hero learns of his horror and disillusion in the world (Ellison 19). The essay will elaborate more about the theme of identity in the ‘Invisible Man’ novel.
The Background of the Narrator
The book also elaborates more on the American Experience by incorporating distinct themes of racism and alienation. However, the more profound issues for the reader is to discover range from the need for black leadership, to the roots of the culture. The ‘Invisible Man’ narrator is one of the most daring, canny characterizations in modern literature (Ellison 39). The actions he takes talks more about his life in that everything he says carries an emblematic or double implication without becoming reductively or only allegoric.
His role portrays more on the stereotype of a black male whose goals are accommodative and preset. In the golden age and pureblood, the narrator begins to realize the actual image of America and how it perceives communities to be a sexual spectacle, token professional and permanent inferior (Ellison 31). The story begins with the narrator playing a role in the “battle royal” before delivering the speech of humility and the life status of the black people.
During those days, Ellison was a hopeful scholar that defined himself as a “reliable Booker T. Washington.” In such times, he lived a life that he was advised and a life that would set him on what he believes after seeing. As an icon of the African Americans, he managed to convince people that he can be a good role model. The degradation and abuse that he faced in the battle royal made him have the ability to do anything so long as it changed the perception of people.
The Struggle for Self-Identification
Ellison attributes that he is very invisible even to define himself outside people’s influence. Every person he met gave him advice on who he should be and how to conduct himself. In college, for instance, Dr. Bledsoe told Ellison that he should lie and smile to please the white people. Another example is when he was in New York. Ellison encountered Mary when she placed her hope for the future on her generation and him (Ellison 54). Her expression showed Ellison that he should be a person that does great things.
Every attempt to change Ellison redefined him and gave him a new identity and name because he had to go through intense instructions so that he adapts to the philosophies. Ultimately the protagonist was forced to go underground to get his full identity. The ‘Invisible Man’ in the book; in other words, is the main character that goes with a briefcase everywhere he goes (Smith 27). Every possession he portrays in the suitcase comes from the learning experiences. Throughout the book, this person is searching for his identity.
Due to this, he discovers that his identity lies in the information found in the briefcase. As a suitable example in the book was when the narrator left Mary’s house and created the Negro-doll bank in his room. He got angry because the doll had a sign written: “feed me.” He even said, “For a moment, I stopped and felt like hate is charging up in me. However, since I was enraged by lack of discrimination, I allowed Mary to retain the self-mocking image in my room” (Ellison 319).
The idea of the bank being shattered by the narrator shows that he was rejecting old Negro’s views by convincing himself that his views are extraordinary. At some point, he was convinced that black people do not depend on the whites to survive. Due to this, he never knew that another view could reject his viewpoint on a subject (Smith 35). His briefcase also carried another item that broke the chain-link given by his brother Tarp. The narrator quoted,
“I neither knew what to do with it or wanted it; even though no questions keep it, I have no reason why I felt that Tarp’s gesture of help would compel the respect I have for him” (Ellison 389). Even though the narrator has not planned to maintain the link, he felt that he was compelled to do it since the chain gang is also involved with the heritage.
Usually, people are unable to ignore their past, similar to how the situation is seen in the novel. At the end of the book, particularly when he was burying the content from, the narrator decided to leave people’s traditions because he could not escape his culture (Smith 39). By putting the chain link and the shattered bank pieces in his suitcase, the invisible is adding his integrating heritage and identity to reform his self-understanding.
Another essential item left in the narrator’s briefcase was the Sambo doll, similar to the one Clifton sold. He even narrates, “I, therefore, saw a fine black thread and removed it from the frilled paper. In the end, the loop was tied. I sued my finger to slip it over to allow me to stretch the taut. During this time, Clifton made it dance even though the thread was the invisible man” (Ellison 446). The Sambo doll, in other words, symbolized the manipulation of the invisible man by brotherhood and society.
When Clifton dies, the invisible man started noticing that the brotherhood can sacrifice any member to maintain their goal of unity. The truth about friendship also wakes him up and begins playing his role. It is not the wish of the invisible man to be a puppet and be told what he must do by the brotherhood (Smith 45). As usual, he will not manage to see the situation at hand unless another event takes place for him to realize his true identity.
The doll in his briefcase, therefore, allowed him to see how everyone around him manipulated him. Several times in the novel, the invisible man tried to discover his identity but fails to find that aligns with him. Due to this, he allowed everyone to tell him who he should become. “Inside of me, I discovered a new name written on a paper” (Ellison 309). When one is unable to find his own identity, then friends will be the only people to assist.
The speech above is why the invisible man kept his brotherhood and their papers in the suitcase because, for some time, they assisted him in discovering his identity. The invisible man also took a false identity from Rineheart to hide Ras from him. Soon the invisible man notices that the status of Rineheart is only in clothing he puts on, which had no personality.
“All my life, I searched for something, and every place I went, someone tried to direct me how things should be. Since I accepted what they told me, I thought they were self-contradicting and even contradicting. I was naïve, and I never knew my identity, and that is why I was asking every person except my question because I have the answers” (Ellison 15). Due to this, the invisible man decided to burn the objects in his suitcase because they reminded him of his past identity.
“It was though my eyes were opened and a voice told me to look around. All of a sudden, images of the past that humiliated me flickered in my head, and I noticed that the experiences were different from what I wanted to become. The things id realized is that they were all me and defined who I was. However, my experiences no matter how powerful and bland they were, can conquer the world but could not taunt, cry, rage, ache, itch, or change my self-identity” (Ellison 508). All documents such as the letter from his brother jack, southern black diploma, the brotherhood identity, and Clifton’s paper dolls were all burned. He only kept the two objects that defined his character.
The Obstacle of Racism in Individual Identity
As much as the narrator struggled to discover his identity, his effort was also complicated because he is a black man that lives in a racist American community (Ellison 68). In the novel, the narrator finds that he went through various cities such as the brotherhood to the liberty paint, where each microcosm endorsed an idea of how the behavior of blacks was portrayed in the society.
However, since the narrator tried to identify himself through the expectations and values imposed on him, he discovered that each case had prescribed roles that limited his complexity as a person (Smith 51). This is why he was forced to play the inauthentic part. When the narrator arrived in New York, he joined the world of Liberty Paints’ plan. The place made him financially successful because he subverted blackness to replace the services offered by the whites.
In this place, the narrator made the whites to heavily depend on the blacks both in racial makeup terms and mixing of the paint tones (Smith 62). Yes, there was denial from the factory on the final product because of the efforts of the blacks. As a result, the narrator was stifled. When the narrator became part of the brotherhood, he had the belief that the fight for racial equality within the organization’s ideology made the brotherhood to use him to abstract the project.
Nevertheless, the narrator has also realized that racial prejudice made him what he wanted to discover with visions that limit him to act. He even came with the conclusion that he is invisible in that the world has blind people that are unable to see the reality of things. Due to the fact of things, the narrator found it impossible to act on his personality (Smith 69). Even though he uses his invisibility nature to limit the stereotyped view, he realizes his move was passive.
The narrator then decides to emerge for the hibernating ground to contribute as a complicated person in every community. The narrator also chose to exert his power to the outside world to see if his roles will be prescribed. Through proactive contributions made by society, he forced his friends to acknowledge him and the existence of behaviors and beliefs outside the prejudiced areas.
The Limits to Ideology
Throughout the book, the author notices that the complex issues he has limitations not only because of racism but also through general ideologies. The narrator also discovers that the advances of doctrine through the institutions are non-dimensional and straightforward to serve the multidimensional and complex nature of human identity. The book also has various examples of ideology from Booker T. Washington ideologist to the tamer while subscribing to the character of the narrator to the more separatist, violent ideology of Ras the Exhorter (Ellison 79).
The text, in this case, supports the points raised by the brotherhood. Among this, the narrator also learns that the promise from the ideology is to save people from the reality of life because it consistently betrays and limits people’s freedom (Smith 99). Even though the implication from the novel shows that Experience is abundant, it had unpredictable boundaries that revealed the ideologies such as Jazz, which the narrator used to beautify his life through moments of surprise and improvisation.
Conclusion
The title of the novel is evident that invisibility is the dominant theme used to indicate the various functions of the narrator’s character. As seen, the protagonist and others go through struggles before his identity is discovered. Due to lack of definition, the narrator began identifying himself through groups, whereas a southerner and a black man, he became part of the brotherhood. The identity theme is significantly seen because of the nature of the life of the protagonist and how he became invisible because of his underground life. The narrator also met the white man, and he was called a nigger to show that he is unknown.
