The Symbolism Of Red In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

The Symbolism of Red in Invisible Man Red, a symbol for love and compassion shared between two people. In the novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, we see a different side of the color. The side of red we see is one of rage, blood, courage, power, and danger. Ellison sneaks little bits of red into the novel and if you weren’t looking for it you may have never know it was there. These small hints of red can be seen throughout the whole book and show how the red can foreshadow danger in future incidents. Even though red seems like a small and insignificant symbol, red can be found in many places like the beginning of the novel in the battle royal, on the veterans wheelchair near the Golden Day, and even in Brother Jack’s hair. After the battle Royal was finished and the Protagonist has to get down and scoop up the coins off the floor he looks around him and sees the wealthy men, he comments on their faces and says “the men on the other side were waiting, red faces swollen as though from apoplexy as they bent forward in their chairs” (Ellison 28). These wealthy business men surrounding the Protagonist are forcing him do what they want, by making him fight and pick up the coins off of the electric rug. These men are like celebrities today. As the Protagonist walks into the Battle Royal he points out whom most of the men are, he says this “I was shocked to see some of the most

With such a spread of possible meanings for red it is hard to interpret its true meaning, in the novel invisible man though red is mostly seen as a dangerous color or one of courage and power. Since this novel takes place in the 1930’s during the height of racism in America it does an expert job of showing how the power of whites overtook the blacks even though they were said to be free citizens. It is amazing to see how a symbol such as red can be used throughout a book to deepen the