Examples Of Humiliation In Invisible Man

Throughout chapters 8-10 of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison the three main motifs of humiliation, the liberty paints, and blindness The motif of humiliation is one that reoccurs throughout the novel thus far. The narrator constantly feels the need to please others and gain approval through his actions. Due to the racism during this time, most of what the narrator went through was humiliating as he would never be viewed as a normal human. It is throughout this section that humiliation is present through the letters of which Bledsoe says are letters of recommendation. Finding out that Bledsoe had told each of the addressee's that the narrator earned permanent expulsion and that Bledsoe had to send him away under false pretenses in order to protect the college, the narrator is astonished and “twenty-five years seemed to have lapsed,” (Ellison 191) between him being handed the letter and him reading it. With the motif of humiliation comes the connection to the theme of how racism is an obstacle to an individual being able to find his/her true identity. …show more content…
Optic White shows America's preoccupation with white people, and how it is falsely assumed that they are more pure than black people. To attain Liberty Paints' Optic White color, the narrator must “measure the glistening black drops,”(Ellison, 200) an original dull gray substance. When the paint batch is mixed properly, the results are a glowing, bright white color. This signature color represents the importance black individuals play in America's past, present and future. It's only when black is added to the paint mix that the purest, most ideal, paint color emerges. This motif relates back to the theme of how racism is an obstacle to an individual’s true