Words And Spoken Words In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

The ability to convey one’s thoughts eloquently and effectively in the form of a speech or spoken words is extremely important. Translating individual thoughts into a comprehensive collaboration of words allows for clarity in people heeding the message, evoking an expansion in their thoughts. In the novel, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the unnamed protagonist finds his rhetoric, or orator’s voice, and develops this, leading him to his revelation of self-awareness. As time progresses the protagonist reinvents his voice, leading him to accepting and embracing the person within, the self he has come to know. The author gives us a glimpse at the character through the various speeches he delivers in the assortment of scenarios he experiences throughout

He was in the process of preparing to speak at The Battle of Royal and as he was waiting patiently, but anxiously, for his time to speak. The people appointed to hear him speak put him through a series of trials beforehand. These people understood how important this speech was to him; however, it was highly irrelevant to them. They used this knowledge to their advantage, so instead of rejecting him completely, they made him seem important just to humiliate him. Despite being inflicted with physical pain by the commands of these people he reflected and expressed, “And yet, I had begun to worry about my speech again” (Ellison page 24). The protagonist was willing to endure whatever came his way to insure he spoke to them in hopes they approved of his words. He began to over analyze every move he made in their presence and admitted, “Still I was more afraid to act any other way because they didn’t like that at all” (Ellison page 17). Due to his extreme focus on the criticism from others, the protagonist’s passion for orating diminished, demonstrating an extreme lack of confidence. Once the protagonist had begun to speak, he noticed, “…but a few of the men, especially the superintendent, were listening and I was afraid” (Ellison page 30). Due to his concern regarding their judgments upon him, his speech would be weaker than if he had just believed in himself and his words. This speech is

Maintaining the courage to deliver genuine and powerful speeches never came easy to the protagonist, however soon he had become this completely new speaker. He had a fire inside him that had just ignited with the right scenario. As he was walking through the city, he came across an eviction taking place and noticed how broken inside the people being evicted were. The protagonist felt a compelling means to alleviate the situation by speaking against the authorities. He potently vocalized, “You heard him, he’s the law. He says he’ll shoot us down because we’re a law abiding people. So we’ve been dispossessed, and what’s more, he thinks he’s God. Look up there, back against the post with a criminal on either side of him… All we have is the Bible and this law here rules that out…” (Ellison pages 279 and 280). This one speech changed his entire speaking voice overall. This gave him the confidence to know he is able to express his opinions freely and when he is genuine to them people listen and understand the message he is trying to convey. A man named Brother Jack watched his speech and decided he was someone with a lot of potential to become better at speaking. The protagonists’ speech amazed him. Brother Jack praised him, “I haven’t heard such an effective piece of eloquence since the days when I was in-well, in a long time. You aroused