The Role Of Identity In Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man

In Ellison’s book, The Invisible Man, the narrator confronts the challenges of becoming what society expects of him, and accepting his “Invisibility.” Although he contends with the stereotypes in the beginning stages of his journey, he discovers a way to thrive in lieu of his “Absence” in society.
For instance, in the Prologue, Invisible Man describes his apartment, which is filled with 1,369 lightbulbs; he includes that the light,"confirms [his] reality," in which he continues to doubt his existence. Later, as Invisible Man speaks, he is given a form of visibility, despite the levels of transparency that black men are placed under in a "white man's world"(H. William Rice). For Example, Invisible Man, is recognized in the Harlem district

as the inspirational speaker that he is. "Ultimately, by accepting his invisibility, [he] asserts control of his destiny"(Daniel S. Burt). In this case, invisibility offers possibilities, a liberating nullity in which identity can be creatively fashioned.
In the Epilogue, the narrator's words express the compulsion of placing invisibility down in black and white. As seen in the novel, the narrator is seen as an orator, but he is writing to convey the urge of his experience. Ellison himself has said that "the epilogue was necessary to complete the action began when [the narrator] sets out to write his memoirs" (H. William Rice). Later, in the same interview, Ellison suggests that the narrator does become visible once again through his writing. Paradoxically, as irony piles on irony, the act of writing invisibly allows the narrator to become visible to the audience of readers, "whereas speech was done visibly but necessitated his invisibility" (H. William Rice). Before the end, as Invisible Man locks the jaws of Ras the destroyer he finds new life by silencing Ras and also himself, the narrator claims that "[he has] surrendered [his] life and begun to live again" (Ellison 560). Therefore, moving into the invisibility of writing, which expresses the hope seen in the Prologue and the Epilogue. Suggesting that writing will bring the narrator a self-definition that speech has denied him.
From the beginning of the novel, Invisible Man has struggled with searching for his true identity, and being accepted by society.

On his search, he encounters various father figures that he confronts, understands, and escapes. The first figure the narrator confronts, is Booker T. Washington, evoked in his speech at the Battle Royal and continuing through Mr. Norton. Whom the narrator meets when he is at the college. Moving onto Dr. Bledsoe, whom Invisible Man idolized until he exiles him to New York with hope of returning to his studies. Then there is Brother Jack from the Brotherhood, who guides the narrator in becoming the "chief spokesperson for the Harlem District" (Daniel S. Burt). One after another the narrator falls under the influence of these leaders only to rebel later. Ras, is the last of these figures, and he is "the representative of African nationalism who stalks him through the streets of Harlem as a rival speaker, accusing the narrator of faithlessness to the black man, seeking to align him with the ultimate father/mother symbol: Africa" (H. William Rice). Therefore, giving the scene where the narrator spears Ras's jaw shut importance due to him "having found his life by losing it. Thus, he has lived out the prophetic words of the vet from the Golden Day: 'be your own father, young man' " (H. William Rice) (Ellison

156).
Also in the narrator's struggle with finding himself, he is given a new identity by the brotherhood. As he speaks for the brotherhood, it is their hope that he will become a visible black man in society, but it is only for the sake of swaying others in their behalf. Eventually, the narrator learns that despite the brotherhood's rhetoric of equality and social justice, "the group is as manipulative and unwilling to grant the autonomy" (Daniel S. Burt). Only late in the novel does Invisible Man discover the trick of disguising himself with the identity of the shapeshifting hipster, Rinehart, and his "vast seething, hot world of fluidity". By going underground does the narrator truly become the character of the book's title. Therefore, invisibility is a many-faceted metaphor; "the title of this novel implies that the narrator is invisible to white people because he is black" (H. William Rice). Trueblood, Mary Rambo, and Tod Clifton offer alternatives in transcendence and survival that echo the veterans insight: "Play the game, but don't believe in it......Learn how it operates, learn how you operate.....The world is the possibility if only you discover it" (Ralph Ellison). Showing that you can put on a mask, for the world to see, but don't let the mask become who you are. Being invisible allows Invisible Man to escape the visible embodiment of what he becomes, but only by the invisibility of writing can Invisible Man overcome the visibility of speech. "Thus, writing assumes quite a significant role. It is not only the narrator's way out of the underground, but also, in Ellison's eyes, it points toward the completion of an action that is in actuality never completed in the novel" (H. William Rice). Through the acceptance of his invisibility, "he can penetrate to the core of the American experience in which the delineation of identity is the central cultural imperative" (Daniel S. Burt).

In Ralph Ellison's novel, Invisible Man, the leading character struggles with finding his true identity and the acceptance of society. Even though he has faced many discouraging encounters, he still fights to find enlightenment within himself. He finds that he only succeeds in hiding underground, and leaving behind the life of a orator for a writer. It is by this that he finally becomes the character of the book's title.