True Identity in The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

888 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Examine the use of symbolism in the book The Invisible Man

He is not Your Pinocchio Anymore: The Brief Look into the Narrator’s Self-Realization
In the novel Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison utilizes the motif of paper to demonstrate the journey the narrator goes through to realize his true identity. By using this motif, the narrator’s identity is revealed in various stages over the course of the novel.
In the beginning of the novel, paper seems similar to a beacon of hope; shining light on all the wonderful opportunities the world has to offer for the narrator. He feels that paper will help pave the way for his future. For example after the Battle Royal had taken place, the superintendent gives the narrator a briefcase “filled with important papers that [would later] help shape the destiny of [his] people” (Ellison 32). The narrator is surprised to find “a scholarship to the state college for Negroes” amongst the numerous envelopes and papers (Ellison 32). This one document shows the narrator that he possesses the potential to make something more of himself. In addition, the paper represents a key that helps unlock all the doors to the narrator’s future. One of those doors happens to be going to college and earning an education. This opportunity closely relates to the narrator’s identity: an accomplished, educated, African American who wants to make a change in society. Therefore, he decides to attend college, but he runs into some trouble that gets him expelled. Even though he was dismissed, Dr. Bledsoe wants to aid the narrator in getting back on his feet. Therefore, he promises to “give [the narrator] some letters addressed to several friends of the school” in New York, and Bledsoe claims that “[o]ne of them will do something for” the hopeful narrator (Ellison 149). This helpful documen...

... middle of paper ...

...Invisible Man, Ellison uses the motif of paper to reveal the journey through which the narrator has to travel to realize his true identity. Ellison does this in a matter of stages, which are associated with differing emotions towards the paper.

Works Cited
Barón-Fritts, Amanda. "Alter(Ing) Identities: On Becoming The Other." The Black Scholar 34.1 (2004): 34-39. Sociological Collection. Web. 8 May 2014.
Drake, Rachel. "Blackness, Autonomy, And Power In Selected Works Of Walter Mosley And Ralph Ellison." The Researcher: An Interdisciplinary Journal 25.2 (2012): 1-8. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 May 2014.
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage International, 1995. Print.
Neighbors, Jim. "Plunging (Outside Of) History: Naming And Self-Possession In "Invisible Man.." African American Review 36.2 (2002): 227. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 8 May 2014.

Show More
Related

  • The Symbolism Of Chthonian In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

    397 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, he argues about the American life for the black race, losing their identity because of the inequality, and limitations. In his reading Ralph Ellison used many symbolisms such as unusual names, to tell his story.

    Read More

  • The Invisible Man's Identity

    2067 Words  | 5 Pages

    Upon opening Ralph Waldo Ellison’s book The “Invisible Man”, one will discover the shocking story of an unnamed African American and his lifelong struggle to find a place in the world. Recognizing the truth within this fiction leads one to a fork in its reality; One road stating the narrators isolation is a product of his own actions, the other naming the discriminatory views of the society as the perpetrating force infringing upon his freedom. Constantly revolving around his own self-destruction, the narrator often settles in various locations that are less than strategic for a man of African-American background. To further address the question of the narrator’s invisibility, it is important not only to analyze what he sees in himself, but more importantly if the reflection (or lack of reflection for that matter) that he sees is equal to that of which society sees. The reality that exists is that the narrator exhibits problematic levels of naivety and gullibility. These flaws of ignorance however stems from a chivalrous attempt to be a colorblind man in a world founded in inequality. Unfortunately, in spite of the black and white line of warnings drawn by his Grandfather, the narrator continues to operate on a lost cause, leaving him just as lost as the cause itself. With this grade of functioning, the narrator continually finds himself running back and forth between situations of instability, ultimately leading him to the self-discovery of failure, and with this self-discovery his reasoning to claim invisibility.

    Read More

  • Ralph Ellison's Battle Royal

    1162 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this passage, Ellison reveals the identity crisis faced by not only the Invisible Man, but by the entire African American race as well. He builds on this theme as he follows the I.M. through his life experiences.... ... middle of paper ... ...by very carefully executing his point of view, thereby giving the modern day reader a clear concept of the problem.

    Read More

  • Invisible Man

    953 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ralph Ellison uses symbolism in the first chapter of Invisible Man to illustrate the culture in which he lived and was raised. In the chapter, entitled “Battle Royal”, Ellison intends to give his graduation speech to the white elite of his community. However, before her can deliver said speech, he is forced to perform humiliating tasks. The use of symbols is evident throughout “Battle Royal” particularly with regard to the Hell imagery, power struggle, and the circus metaphor.

    Read More

  • The Significance of Mr. Norton and Fate in Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

    2152 Words  | 5 Pages

    Mr. Norton, a rich, Southern, white trustee, claims that the narrator and the black people "were some how closely connected" with his destiny. This man contributed funds to the college as a tribute for his deceased daughter, which startled the narrator, for this white man poured his heart out to him.

    Read More

  • The Paper Motif in Invisible Man

    798 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man depicts a realistic society where white people act as if black people are less than human. Ellison uses papers and letters to show the narrator’s poor position in this society.

    Read More

  • Invisible Race and Gender in Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison

    2387 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the unnamed narrator shows us through the use motifs and symbols how racism and sexism negatively affect the social class and individual identity of the oppressed people. Throughout the novel, the African American narrator tells us the story of his journey to find success in life which is sabotaged by the white-dominated society in which he lives in. Along his journey, we are also shown how the patriarchy oppresses all of the women in the novel through the narrator’s encounters with them.

    Read More

  • Trials And Tribulation In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Ralph Ellison’s novel, Invisible Man, the narrator who is the main character goes through many trials and tribulations.

    Read More

  • Imagery In Invisible Man

    1499 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, Ellison uses description of decorations such as mirrors, portraits and signs to reflect and foreshadow Invisible Man’s struggle in defining himself, especially during the stages of rebirth and perception.

    Read More

  • The Symbolic Briefcase in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man

    961 Words  | 2 Pages

    The narrator of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man is the victim of his own naiveté. Throughout the novel he trusts that various people and groups are helping him when in reality they are using him for their own benefit. They give him the illusion that he is useful and important, all the while running him in circles. Ellison uses much symbolism in his book, some blatant and some hard to perceive, but nothing embodies the oppression and deception of the white hierarchy surrounding him better than his treasured briefcase, one of the most important symbols in the book.

    Read More

  • The Invisible Man

    934 Words  | 2 Pages

    To understand the narrator of the story, one must first explore Ralph Ellison. Ellison grew up during the mid 1900’s in a poverty-stricken household (“Ralph Ellison”). Ellison attended an all black school in which he discovered the beauty of the written word (“Ralph Ellison”). As an African American in a predominantly white country, Ellison began to take an interest in the “black experience” (“Ralph Ellison”). His writings express a pride in the African American race. His work, The Invisible Man, won much critical acclaim from various sources. Ellison’s novel was considered the “most distinguished novel published by an American during the previous twenty years” according to a Book Week poll (“Ralph Ellison”). One may conclude that the Invisible Man is, in a way, the quintessence Ralph Ellison. The Invisible Man has difficulty fitting into a world that does not want to see him for who he is. M...

    Read More

  • Invisible Man Research Paper

    689 Words  | 2 Pages

    Therefore, the theme of self-realization by relying solely upon one's self is developed. The type of self-reliance that is eventually displayed by the narrator is the same type of self-reliance exhibited by such blacks as Booker T. Washington. This is something for the reader to keep in mind when exploring the episodes in which the narrator is at college (it has never been proven, but many critics think that the founder of the college was Booker T. Washington.). Although the founder of the college never appears in the novel, his success story offers many parallels to Washington's

    Read More

  • Racism and Identity in Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man

    2213 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Ralph Ellison’s novel The Invisible man, the unknown narrator states “All my life I had been looking for something and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was…I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself the question which I, and only I, could answer…my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself. But first I had to discover that I am an invisible man!” (13). throughout the novel, the search for identity becomes a major aspect for the narrator’s journey to identify who he is in this world. The speaker considers himself to be an “invisible man” but he defines his condition of being invisible due to his race (Kelly). Identity and race becomes an integral part of the novel. The obsession with identity links the narrator with the society he lives in, where race defines the characters in the novel. Society has distinguished the characters in Ellison’s novel between the African and Caucasian and the narrator journey forces him to abandon the identity in which he thought he had to be reborn to gain a new one. Ellison’s depiction of the power struggle between African and Caucasians reveals that identity is constructed to not only by the narrator himself but also the people that attempt to influence. The modernized idea of being “white washed” is evident in the narrator and therefore establishes that identity can be reaffirmed through rebirth, renaming, or changing one’s appearance to gain a new persona despite their race. The novel becomes a biological search for the self due through the American Negroes’ experience (Lillard 833). Through this experience the unknown narrator proves that identity is a necessary part of his life but race c...

    Read More

  • Jazz in Invisible Man

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    Margolies, Edward. “History as Blues: Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man.” Native Sons: A Critical Study of Twentieth-Century Negro American Authors. J.B. Lippincott Company, 1968. 127-148. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Daniel G. Marowski and Roger Matuz. Vol. 54. Detroit: Gale, 1989. 115-119. Print.

    Read More

  • Invisible Man Essay: Identity and Invisibility

    1163 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lieber, Todd M.  "Ralph Ellison and the Metaphor of Invisibility in Black Literary Tradition."  American Quarterly.  Mar. 1972: 86-100.

    Read More

More about True Identity in The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Open Document