Imagery In Invisible Man

In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, Ellison uses description of decorations such as mirrors, portraits and signs to reflect and foreshadow Invisible Man’s struggle in defining himself, especially during the stages of rebirth and perception.

Before IM leaves the college, the description of portraits suggests that he is overwhelmed by the dominating power of the white people, who are the trustees and benefactors of the college, but at the same time IM wishes to be the same as them. All of the portraits appear blurred and veiled. As IM looks as photos of the Founder and other people in a gallery, he sees “photographs of men and women in wagons drawn by mule teams… a black mob that seemed to be waiting, looking with blank faces, and among them the inevitable collection of white men and

women in smiles, clear of features, striking, elegant and confident”(39).

IM uses “mob” to describe the uneducated black people, and rather than merely “waiting”, those black people are more like paying tributes to the wagons of white people. Like those people, IM is also repressed by white people’s power invisibly, but instead of feeling sympathetic for those people of his own race, he “identifies myself with the rich man reminiscing on the rear seat,” admiring the white people. In both Mr. Norton and Bledsoe’s rooms there are portraits of the Founder and “men of power”. He has a sense that the Founder is “looking down at [him]”(103). This imagery is similar to the “Big Brother is watching you” scene from George Orwell’s 1984, which depicts a highly repressive society and lack of freedom. IM has to do what he is asked. IM does not realize that he is being controlled, and he even claims that those portraits are “like trophies or heraldic emblems”(137). IM does not realize that his freedom of both thinking and acting

is limited in the college, and his blind admiration towards powerful men impedes him from defining himself. As he reminiscences those pictures, “a veil seems to fall”, because those people are inconsequential once IM finds his own identity.

When IM arrives in New York, he feels restrained and lost as soon as he realizes that Bledsoe has deceived him; and gradually, he begins to concern about about his identity as a member of a race when he notices the racial implication of some decorations. The “aviary of tropical birds”(181) sets near the windows in Young Emerson’s office foreshadows and symbolizes IM’s being caged because he does not know that Bledsoe deceives him and lies in the letters. And later IM decides not to stand near the cage “for a better view”(181) implies that he is blinded from seeing his situation clearly, because he thinks that course of action will make him look “unbusinesslike.”(181) Then IM works at Literby Paint, he repeats the company’s slogan “If It’s Optic White, It’s the Right White.” and “suddenly has to repress a laugh as a childhood jingle rang through [his] mind,” and he mocks “If you’re white, you’re right.” (218) IM begins to realize the racial differences and social discrimination happening around him, and thus he starts to feel disgusting toward white people’s superiority and no longer admires their power. This revelation is the first step for IM to define himself as a member of a race and find his own identity. Later when he sees the eviction of the old black couple and notices the decorations such as “dusty lock of infant hair,” “a worn baby shoe”, “ an ornate greeting card”, and “FREE PAPERS”(272) scattered on the street, he thinks of his family and his own grandfather. Those articles remind him of his social responsibility for his race, and for the first time he makes a speech against the white power and promulgates that black people should organize together and fight. This episode is the stage of perception. Then, he joins Brotherhood and is reborn with a new identity. With this new identity, he has a sense of urgency to appeal for social equality, which explains his rage when he sees a “self-mocking” coin bank in Mary’s house, “the cast-iron figure of” (319)a stereotypical black person smiling and begging for money. IM recognizes his responsibility and identity as a member of his race with the help of decorations, and this revelation is a crucial step in his efforts to define his true self.

As IM begins his work for Brotherhood, he gains a new identity and has great faith in Brotherhood; however, IM’s reflections on decorations reveal that the idea of being someone else and being unable to look beneath the surface can be destructive and result in the loss of identity. He is “stuck by the contrast between the richness of” Emma’s house and “their rather poor clothing.”(301) Like what the vet says, it is important to see under the surface because everyone is masking and hiding his or hers identity. In addition, in IM’s office, Brother Tarp “hangs a frame from the ceiling molding, straightening carefully”(378) a poster of Frederick Douglass, and there is “a symbolic poster of a group of heroic figures” with Brother Clifton “surrounded by a group of children of mixed races.”(385) Brother Jack promises IM that he will be like Booker T. Washington and IM is fascinated by this idea of being someone great. As IM views those posters with great reverence, he is visualizing himself being them rather than trying to find his own identity. Also, Brotherhood’s philosophy in scientific approach represses IM’s free thinking and speech. IM sees “a scene from a bullfight” which he describes as “one swirl of calm, pure motion.”(358) But for Jack, bullfight is “Pure barbarism.”(358) Similarly, Brotherhood commends on IM’s arena speech as “”backward and reactionary.”(350) He is forced to think the same way as Brotherhood does; however, for him, he is empowered and becomes “more human”(346) when he is saying what he thinks. The new identity of IM gains in Brotherhood and the figures on the posters are impeding him from defining himself.

However, mirrors ultimately help IM to define himself and find his own true identity, since they are tools for self-reflection. When IM is brought to the Battle Royal, he is led into a “big mirrored hall, which [he] enters looking cautiously.”(18) At that time, he is just a powerless, nameless black student who is indistinguishable from the rest of the crowd. He looks at his reflection but does not say anything, because he has no sense of self-recognition. As he goes up to New York, this attitude changes. He “goes to the mirror and gave [himself] an admiring smile as [he] spread the letters upon the dresser like a hand of high trump cards.”(163) He sees an idealized self in the mirror, being optimistic about his future. He regards himself in the mirror as a new version of self as he hopes to use this new identity to start a brand new life. Then it proves that this reflection is an illusion when he reads Bledsoe’s letter. Later he meets with Mrs. Hubert and there are two mirrors in her bedroom which his reflections “like a surge of sea tossed [their] images back and forth, back and forth, furiously multiplying the time and the place and the circumstance.”(416) IM’s image is blurred, multiplies and distorted by the reflective effects of two mirrors, but in his eyes he sees his identities overlapping in “the time and the place and the circumstance” and then, disappear. Then as IM discovers his invisibility, he reflects that he is the sum of his experiences, “[he] is [his] experiences.”(508) His invisibility and his true identity are his mirrored selfs: his past self, his present self and his future self. He becomes different as he lives and learns, but his nature remains the same. The mirrors can only reflect the surface, which give him infinite possibilities; but his invisible self is the one that defines IM.

“When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”(The Christian New Testament 13:11) When people grow up, their go through many experiences. At first, when they see their reflections in the mirror, or in other words, their own identity “dimly” and “in part”, confused about who they are. But later, as those parts are put together like pieces of jigsaw puzzles, they can see and know themselves “fully”. When IM realizes his invisibility, which is his authentic self, he realizes that his is “the sum of all the experiences”, his fragmental experiences makes his true identity. By seeing parts of his own reflections in the mirrors and other decorations, he is able to obtain a collective and complete identity at last.