Blindness And Sight In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison’s novel, Invisible Man, engages with the notion of invisibility through the ideas of blindness and sight. The writer Annie Bloch argues invisibility to be the “failure of men to see each other as individuals.” (Bloch,1966: xxx) This advances the protagonists idea in the prologue about his invisibility being a result of other people’s perceptions of him because of him being black (Ellison,1952: 3). This is particularly important because this novel is set in the south of America in the early 20th century. Through a critical analysis of the protagonist’s conversation with Mr Norton in the car and his conversation with Mr Emerson’s son about the letter, this essay aims to prove that the preconceived perceptions that the characters have about one another and the imagery of sight used throughout the novel engage with the idea of invisibility, which is central to the novel.

I can’t see it for the trees,” (Ellison,1952:41). This is alludes to the idea that Mr Norton is one of the people who do not see very clearly and as a result are not be able to see the protagonist clearly. The author then introduces imagery through a flock of birds that is being driven by forces that are unseen to the naked eye (Ellison,1952: 41). This is important because it alludes to the idea of being controlled by invisible forces. The protagonist as a young, black man living in the south in the 20th century would have his future controlled by the white people surrounding