Theme Of Cruelty In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

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Recommended: Analysis of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, cruelty seen from Dr. Bledsoe functions as a turning point for the narrator as well as revealing many themes that are seen throughout the novel. Cruelty from Bledsoe reveals a sense of false hope, IDIDIDIDI, survival of the fittest, and the gradual growing out of naivety. Throughout the novel the narrator is supplied with false hope. The false hope originates with the letters that Bledsoe gives the narrator. Bledsoe leads the narrator to believe that he’ll be able to return to college and get a job to earn tuition without knowing that Bledsoe’s recommendation letters were a ploy to keep him running with any hope at all. Even after the revelation of the real letters, the narrator doesn’t rid of this false hope because of the job at the paint company. This also highlights the immense amount of ignorance the narrator still has in regards …show more content…

Contradictorily, some character development is seen because he experiences betrayal in a significant manner and realizes for the first time that he can’t always achieve his goals by doing everything that’s asked of him and that he can’t trust authority members to be truthful. This is seen further at the paint company when the narrator is punished for doing what’s asked of him. However, after being sent to the boiler room with Mr. Brockway, the narrator still has this false hope of being able to create a living at the company. After the chaos of Brockway, the explosion, and the lobotomy , the narrator had lost hope to a degree, until he moved in with LADY and discovered the brotherhood which created a new entirety of false hope for the narrator. The new hope (lol) exhibits ignorance in the narrator as well for he blindly follows and obeys a new organization because he thinks he’s doing the right thing without really being aware of his situation. An important character in upholding the narrator’s false hope is Ras the Destroyer; Ras is seen as a deity by the

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