Literary Devices In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

In Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man, the narrator starts off as an ideal black man that believes he must act obsequious towards white authority in order to be as successful as them. He gets accepted into an all black college, but is soon expelled and sent off to Harlem where it seems as though the entire whole world is completely turning on him. As the narrator becomes part of an organization called the Brotherhood, he finally feels part of something. One of the Brotherhood members, who was selling sambo dolls, ends up getting shot by the police and dies, so the narrator puts together a little funeral for him. This upsets the Brotherhood, which has been using him the entire time, but it also allowed him his eyes to open to differences he has with them. The narrator them plans to try to get back at the Brotherhood by seducing one of the member’s wives, Sybil, for information. It ends up not working out and later on in the novel the narrator falls into a manhole under Harlem where he has plenty of time to reflect on his life. He then decides it’s time for him to come out of hibernation and

face the world.

Section 2: Symbols
Three key symbols from the novel Invisible Man include a sambo doll, Brother Jack’s false left eye, and the Liberty Paints Plant. The sambo doll is racism put into the form of a little puppet. The puppet is a caricature of a black man that is controlled with black strings invisible to audience. The way Clifton was controlling the racist doll was a symbol of how the Brotherhood manipulated both Clifton and the Narrator. The narrator believes that he is in fact an invisible man because everyone sees him only as someone they can take advantage of. Brother Jack’s false eye symbolizes that he along with others doesn’t see the narrator for who he truly is. The Liberty Paint Plant was the narrator’s first job he had in Harlem. Its famous Optic White paint is supposed to cover up any dark stains, just as the American society wants to cover up the blacks’ ways of life with white culture.
Section 3: Theme
A theme displayed throughout Invisible Man is one based on identity. Identity remained a constant conflict between the speculation of others and the narrator’s self-perception. He becomes aware that to everyone else around him he is actually invisible. As the reader began to the go through the entire book, the narrator’s identity remains a mystery to them; even the fake name he was given remains unknown. Him being a black male makes it difficult for him to understand his identity due to the fact that he is, indeed, living in a racist society with various stereotypes projected onto him. He goes through several different communities from the Liberty Paints to the Brotherhood, with each place withholding a different perception of how the blacks should act in society. It was almost as if the narrator needed to actually become invisible, by going into the manhole underground, just for him to understand his on true identity.
Section 4: Literary Devices
While reading through Invisible Man, three literary devices you will notice are allusions, similes, and repetition.

An allusion mentioned in Invisible Man was a reference to Booker T. Washington. In the novel he made the statement “I visualized myself as a potential Booker T. Washington” (18). Booker T. Washington was an African American civil right leader. Numerous similes can be found when the narrator mentioned Sylvester kicking Supercargo “as though he were punting a football” (84) and others “stretch(ed) him out… like a corpse” and laid him in a chair “like an aged doll” (85). Throughout the novel the reader can notice a repetition of the word “invisible”. It was first used in the beginning when he declared “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me” (3) and towards the end when he concluded “I’m an invisible man and it placed me in this

hole”(572).
Section 5: Tone
Throughout the novel, the reader can perceive a rather candid and thoughtful tone from the narrator. He tells it like it is in all aspects of his story, which leads his story to have sort of a more reflective edge to it. The entire story is the narrator recalling his life while inside a manhole. He illustrates his experiences and thoughts through vivid imagery leaving no details out. Through his use of straightforward diction he managed to create the blunt attitude towards the things he went through in his life. For example he didn’t sugar coat the fact that he thought other people made the choice to not see who he truly was by stating, “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me” (3). Also, if it wasn’t for his intense imagery, then for situations he faced like the Battle Royal it wouldn’t have came across as brutal and powerful.
Section 6: Significant Quote
A quote of great importance is “He registers with his senses but short-circuits his brain. Nothing has meaning. He takes it all in but he doesn’t digest it. Already he is – well, bless my soul! Behold! A walking zombie! Already he’s learned to repress not only his emotions but his humanity. He’s invisible, a walking personification of the Negative, the most perfect achievement of your dreams, sir! The mechanical man!” (94). The vet said this quote in the Golden Day and was the first character in the novel to call the narrator invisible. He was criticizing the narrator on being exactly what the white societies had wanted all the blacks to be, brownnosers.