Manipulation In Invisible Man Essay

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Recommended: Discuss the theme of identity in the novel Invisible Man

In the novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison one of the major themes within the novel was having to do with the topic of manipulation and control over others. Within the novel the main point that was conveyed with the topic of manipulation was that manipulating a person is much easier to do when the person being manipulated is unsure of who and/or what they are. This theme is evident throughout the entirety of the book in how IM was used by both the college and the Brotherhood. The way that IM was used by the college is how he was always told that he was the college’s future, which always made IM think of how the college was dependent on him and that he couldn’t let the college down no matter what. IM was also forced into thinking that the college was solely dependent upon him and that his decisions affected the …show more content…

The Brotherhood was able to easily manipulate IM directly because they, in a sense, also gave IM an identity, through allowing him to join with their cause. It was also especially easy to manipulate IM during this time because he had just recently been “reborn” and had hardly any sense of who he was, giving the Brotherhood the perfect opportunity to mold him to the way they wanted. Although through this process the Brotherhood was more direct with their manipulation of IM in the way that they were constantly using IM to get to the community. The Brotherhood only wanted IM because he could appeal to the community through his emotions which was exactly what they wanted. Though when IM’s emotions started to become a problem the brotherhood quickly abandoned him and no longer helped him. IM doesn’t realize any of this until he starts to find his own personality and discover who he really is, but by this point in time he had already been abandoned by the brotherhood he had helped and that had claimed they would always help

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