The Real History in Ralph Ellison´s Invisible Man

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For our last assignment in English 253, the major essay, we were assigned to analyze some of the concepts and concerns involved in a novel from the past semester. Our task at hand was to select from a topic and develop a more in-depth understanding of the chosen novel, and exactly how the literature involved in the novel is significant. I decided to choose the first option available in order to complete this essay. Since we’re supposed to investigate the accuracy of the represented ways in the chosen novel, I decided to write about the novel Invisible Man. I chose the novel Invisible Man because it is literally perfect for this assignment. I am fully appreciative of the fact that it is extremely hard for any author to publish a novel that does not sway from the “real” history being referenced. Also, I do not believe that Ellison necessarily wrote this novel with intentions to include exact characteristics of the past, or in an ahistorical way. However, throughout the text of the novel Invisible Man, there are several examples, references, and symbols that Ralph Ellison respectively included on purpose. In this essay, my investigation will prove why or why not the real-life social and political ideology involved in the literature of Invisible Man, is accurately or inaccurately depicted.
I believe that there are multiple accounts involved in the text that must be taken into consideration before judging if the novel successfully depicts real-life social and political history. In particular, we must take Ralph Ellison’s personal life and the novel’s background into consideration. In the early 1900’s, the Communist Party rose from the Socialist party in the United States of America. At the time, the people suffering through ...

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... the bourgeoisie, they needn't think they can get away with it...Maybe we can't smash the atom, but we can, with a few well chosen, well written words, smash all that crummy filth to hell." These quotes from Ellison go to show that he included the slight misrepresentations in the novel on purpose. The literature involved in the novel is sometimes exaggerated or repetitive, but is solely used in order for us to receive Ellison’s intended reader experience. His main goal was for the reader to successfully project his intended vision through the story of the narrator, and for the reader to be able to somewhat relate to the struggle of an African American during the 1930’s and 1940’s. I believe that he successfully accomplished what he sought out for, and that Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man is the perfect, genius response to the petty betrayal of the Communist Party.

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