Invisibility In Emerson's Invisible Man

“The invisible- the unseen or spiritual world.” People tend to relate the word “invisibility” with things such as: invisible cloaks, superheros, monsters, etc. Invisibility is often viewed only as a physical characteristic. However, the word “invisible” takes on many spiritual and literary meanings in Emerson’s novel. Invisible Man is the story of a young, black man struggling to survive and succeed in a racist society that refuses to see him as a human being. Invisible Man follows the narrator 's physical and emotional journey according to the author, "from Purpose to Passion to Perception". The book is told through flashbacks. In the beginning, the narrator is speaking to us from his underground hideout in the basement of a whites only …show more content…
French Warren says, "There 's a possibility that even an invisible man has a socially responsible role to play" (GaleGroup.com pg. 3). Each person has a purpose on this earth, and it 's only through life 's challenges that we will find out that purpose. The character in the story finds his talents when faced with challenges to enter college. He learns to use his talents and takes on a nice career. He speaks out for a small black family, and joins a white brotherhood that speaks politically. He loses himself while being part of this brotherhood. Then the character is threatened by a black man for “betraying his race”. The man then is swallowed up by the Earth, and is forced to live in an underground cave, living as the invisible man, until he …show more content…
These journeys take place in the immediate context of the late Depression, but, as they unfold, their implications extend backward in time to the Reconstruction, slavery, and the founding of the Republic, and outward from the protagonist 's self to the social situation of black America and to the very nature of the democratic experiment.”(James Press