Ralph Ellison opens chapter 15 of his novel Invisible Man with a scene of building tension one that progresses quickly from general confusion to over whelming chaos. The passages opening paragraph immediately disorients the narrator as much as the reader through various literary devices. The passage begins as follows: “then I was awake and not awake.” This paradoxical revelation establishes the narrator’s general state of confusion. From tossing and turning in his sleep, the narrator finds himself hungover (he mentions bourbon later) and caught between consciousness and unconsciousness. Ellison then indirectly characterizes the narrator confusion through his thoughts: “I sought the meaning of the brash, nerve-jangling sound.” The auditory
…show more content…
While being in a perplexed state the narrator observes a “cast-iron figure of a very black, red-lipped and wide-mouthed Negro, whose white eyes stared up at [him] from the floor, his face an enormous grin, his single large black hand held palm up before his chest.” The figure looking back at the narrator is a racist depiction of blacks in the form of a coin bank. Ellison describes the narrator as being shocked to view such an image especially in a state of disoriented mentality. Upon his discovering the racist artifact, the noises in the narrators head seem to increase. He describes the “tenants up and down the entire line of apartments [joining] in” to increase the commotion. Not only is the narrator confused about the coin bank, but also he is unaware to the source of the noise. The narrator’s confusion builds when the tenants join in creating noise. As Ellison paints a picture, the reader imagines a racist artifact as well as noisy surroundings, which can elevate anyone’s sanity. To conclude the passage the narrator smashes the coin bank as coins fly “over the room like crickets, ringing, rattling against the floor, rolling.” In addition to the noisy tenants, racist coin bank, and the knocking on the door, the narrator has just added another problem. The disarray has increased from the begging of the passage as the narrator continues to fall into
While being in a perplexed state the narrator observes a “cast-iron figure of a very black, red-lipped and wide-mouthed Negro, whose white eyes stared up at [him] from the floor, his face an enormous grin, his single large black hand held palm up before his chest.” The figure looking back at the narrator is a racist depiction of blacks in the form of a coin bank. Ellison describes the narrator as being shocked to view such an image especially in a state of disoriented mentality. Upon his discovering the racist artifact, the noises in the narrators head seem to increase. He describes the “tenants up and down the entire line of apartments [joining] in” to increase the commotion. Not only is the narrator confused about the coin bank, but also he is unaware to the source of the noise. The narrator’s confusion builds when the tenants join in creating noise. As Ellison paints a picture, the reader imagines a racist artifact as well as noisy surroundings, which can elevate anyone’s sanity. To conclude the passage the narrator smashes the coin bank as coins fly “over the room like crickets, ringing, rattling against the floor, rolling.” In addition to the noisy tenants, racist coin bank, and the knocking on the door, the narrator has just added another problem. The disarray has increased from the begging of the passage as the narrator continues to fall into