David Garcia
In the novel The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, an unnamed narrator struggles to find his true identity. Traveling from Southern farms to Northern cities, he is constantly searching for some sort of self-knowledge. The narrator’s perspective on life incontrovertibly evolves from when he is a young teen in high school all the way to his adult years; in lieu of once thinking that he should treat white men with deference and reverence, he concludes the novel with the thought that he has no interest in what any of them think. This philosophy is shown particularly during his time with the radical group known as the Brotherhood.
Once the “Invisible Man” realizes his hopes of re-entering college were doomed, he accumulates a mix of both rage and dismay; he feels rage toward his betrayer, Dr. Blesdoe, for sending him out of the college, but he also has a sense of regret for him and many future African-Americans being crucified by Dr. Blesdoe and all the white men he gravels to. When he sees a riot of people protesting an African-American woman’s eviction, he goes to the foreground of the incident and makes a speech that sparks a rebellion of the white police. He soon joins a group named the Brotherhood, channeling the rage and dismay he felt after what had happened to him into bettering the lives of countless African-Americans. After giving several speeches, he feels that he is assisting African-Americans who truly are in desperate need of it. As time progresses, however, he soon sees that the organization is controlled by white bureaucrats who have no interest in helping the struggling African-Americans with their lives at all; the Brotherhood’s leader even goes on to say that they tell the people what to think. Feeling again betrayed by the omnipotence of white society, his perception of society is forever changed; he now wants nothing to do with them, and he wishes to forge his own path.
Clearly, the narrator has endured trial after trial in his life; these traumatic events have created a sort of emotional wall, and he truly believes he is justified in doing so. Nevertheless, by not associating himself with white society, he is doing the mirror of what white men were doing to African-Americans. There is no argument that people should have their suspicions, but by not allowing any new ideas or people into their minds, thoughts that may improve their own could not result. If the Invisible Man were to resurface instead of stay in the dark, he would truly see the light.
Well David, I did like your essay because you did make some good point such as the “emotional wall” the Invisible Man creates. However, there were a couple of things that got me. In your first paragraph, I didn’t find it necessary to use both deference and reverence because they mean the same thing and it sounded a little bit redundant. I also found that in the last paragraph, your sentence, “Nevertheless, by not associating himself with white society, he is doing the mirror of what white men were doing to African-Americans.”, a somewhat wordy. I understood what you meant by it, but I feel as if there is another way to say it where it doesn’t have that wordiness to it. The very next sentence was probably the most confusing for me: “There is no argument that people should have their suspicions, but by not allowing any new ideas or people into their minds, thoughts that may improve their own could not result.” I did not understand what you were trying to say there although if I had to guess I would probably say that you meant that people should have their own thought but they should also take into consideration how other people see things and how they think as well. But I am unsure of that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your theory that the narrator has decided to do as he pleases rather than to try to please others. You supported this theory well by showing how prominent figures in his life betrayed and disillusioned him. I also find it very interesting that you suggested that he is also acting like the others by not caring about them. This is a new idea that had not occured to me previously. I would have to agree that he is in fact mirroring their actions because he is degrading their importance as much as they have degraded his. This presents a new theory altogether that there is no escaping oppression: either you are the oppressor or you are the one being oppressed. This is a very interesting and fresh idea that I have not come across in the other student's essays and I would love to hear you expand upon it.
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