Invisible Man Figurative Language

Some people in this world feel like they are outsiders in society. Also, there are many examples of stories, in which people and the main characters face the feeling of being neglected from society and others. The authors use figurative language, word choice and death as a way to show the narrator’s sense from being disconnected from society and the pain it causes them.

In many novels, authors convey their message of the narrators not belonging through the use of figurative language. Not being part of society can change a person or evolve a group in a major way to make their reason of neglection way more obvious. For example, “I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your

Hollywood-movie ectoplasms (ghosts).” This quote was from an excerpt from the novel The Invisible Man.

This specific quote is talking about the pain of the narrator, which is caused by being separated from society. The main character in this story has no name and calls himself The Invisible Man. A person’s personality and attitude changes when he or she experiences neglection from society. This young black man changes as he rapes a young woman and tries to run away while hiding from society. In the same way, a young 18 year old girl finds herself trapped in a gang, as their leader. As it states, “And at the time, I really liked the feeling that no one could mess with me. That I was invisible. Anything I wanted was mine…..she wasn't really paying attention to what I was getting into.” In this scene in the article, Isis-Sapp Grant, the main character, was emphasizing the fun and power she felt while she was stealing something during Halloween and that too behind her mother’s back. She said she loved the feeling. She felt as if she was as powerful as the British Empire in the 1800’s and could do anything she wanted, and that too without her mother even knowing about it. This was her past, however, she took a turn for the better. Now,

at the age of 27, she is a mother and a social worker whose main purpose is to prevent young children from joining gangs a young age. However, she is still trying to figure out how to get back in society. She had hurt a lot of people in her time and she meets them time by time. And because of those people, she feels like the outsider in the Outsider in her community/society.

In many novels, the authors compare the narrator with other characters in the story who have a better connection with society, people who have a belonging.

There is always a very big difference in between the two the types of people. The 1960’s were a great yet tragic example for this. For example, “The girls who were bright-eyed and had their dresses a decent length and acted as if they’d like to spit on us if given a chance. Some were afraid of us, and remembering Dallas Winston, I didn’t blame them. But most looked at us like we were dirt.” In this example, a young greaser gang boy named Ponyboy Curtis was reacting on the comments other Socials, or Socs made one them. He tells us about the variety of ways people talked about them, some of them were afraid, whereas some would spit and throw dirt on them. The Outsiders, the novel which the quote is based in the 1960’s. This decade was a very “sorry your poor” kind of decade. The decade was very violent mainly because they were a lot of fights between kids who were rich and kids who were poor: Greasers and the Socs. One of the kids from the Greaser family was Ponyboy Curtis. He was smart. That was very very uncommon in the Greaser family. Most of the greasers were all drop out or either just didn’t have the money to go to school in the first place. So technically, he wasn’t rich(opposite of the Socs), yet he was smart(opposite of the Greasers). That would mean that he was an outsider in his own community. Isis-Sapp

Grant, the woman who was trapped in a gang, felt in the same way also. For example, “The way I felt was, no one cared about me and so I wasn't going to care about them. That's why I could watch somebody cry, plead, bleed, and it wouldn't touch me.” In this small quote from the story, you will see that Isis was showing her opinion towards the people who were good and had a reason and a belonging in their society/community. She wouldn’t care a single bit about what the other person was feeling or even thinking about, she would just torture them.

Lastly, another way authors use figurative language to show a character’s hopelessness is through the death of a close relative or friend. Death is something that is inevitable. It is something that hurts more then when it happens to yourself. It brings the dark inside of us. For example, “Tell Dally. It was too late to tell Dally. Would he have listened? I doubted it. Suddenly it wasn’t only a personal thing to me. I could picture hundreds and hundreds of boys living on the wrong sides of cities, boys with black eyes who jumped at their own shadows.” This excerpt from The Outsiders is from when Ponyboy’s best friend Johnny Cade dies. Johnny’s last wish was to tell Dally, Johnny’s idol, that it was worth being a Greasers and it was worth saving the children from the church that was on fire. However, right before Ponyboy found Johnny’s last wish, Dally passed away by committing suicide by pulling up an empty gun in front of the police. This was very traumatic to Ponyboy and as time went on, he realized that he wasn’t the smart kid he used to be. His grades were dropping and he was acting more like a hard and cold Greaser than a person who was a mix between the Socs and the Greasers. In the same way, Isis-Sapp Grant had to suffer. As it states, “By age 17, I was going to funerals every week. And then Frankie got shot. He was my heart. Walking home after his funeral, I told myself, This does not matter. But that night I went into my mother's room and climbed into her bed. I needed to reach out in the dark and know she was there.” Isis had experienced death many times before, however, she never had felt something like this before. Frankie, her boyfriend had died. She shows her remorse when she says, “But that night I went into my mother's room and climbed into her bed. I needed to reach out in the dark and know she was there.” She says this because she needs someone to lean on and help her and support her.

In conclusion, all the authors showed how life can turn inside out if you do not make the right choices and you are outside of society. Change happens when you are an outsider or when you are treated as one. The Invisible Man, Ponyboy Curtis, and Isis-Sapp Grant were all victims of the most horrible type of all changes. But you can turn back. Change is possible. You just have to make the right choices and treat others in a better way and then you or they won’t have to feel like or be an Outsider.