Comparing The Politics Of Performance In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

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The Politics of Performance in Invisible Man Invisible Man, the seminal text of Ralph Ellison, serves as a complex exploration of societal expectations and racial dynamics, with a comprehensive breaking down, through a certain literary malaise, of identity and power structures in the society it portrays. The novel, diving into the politics of the act of creative performance, through its various depictions of the protagonist, supporting characters, and scenes, works to weave a narrative which challenges and addresses the prominence of visibility and invisibility at an individual level. From the protagonist’s tale of invisibility and other internal difficulties, to the external cultural references of Louis Armstrong’s pioneering musical talents, and, particularly, within the symbolic posturing for position embedded within the …show more content…

Navigating the social perils of having Black skin, Armstrong’s lyrics put the protagonist into an ideal state, where he finds himself not only hearing, but in time and space as well. He says that the sonic power of this song translates to a “certain acoustical deadness” within his “hole” of a living space (4). “I’d like to hear five recordings of Louis Armstrong playing and singing “What Did I Do to Be so Black and blue” – all at the same time” he says, emphasizing how magical this escapist state he goes into just is (4). A vice of sloe gin and vanilla ice cream seemingly symbolizes his hideaway of a “hole,” the location he describes his existence in as an “escape” numerous times throughout the events of the text. His own association with the sentiment of Armstrong’s “Black and Blue,” a harrowing song of personal uncomfortability in one’s Black skin, reinforces the connections between sound and feeling, and emphasizes just how much the protagonist’s tale coincides with much of the sentiment of American jazz and blues music: a search for belonging and an inherent political association with the

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