Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, depicts the life and coming of age of a young Southern black man looking to reap success and find himself in a completely white washed society. Throughout the book, Ellison examines what it means to be a black citizen in America and how that affects the struggle to find one’s individuality in an ever increasingly conformative society. Ellison, through his unnamed protagonist, shows that one cannot achieve both individual and societal identity, and that one must be sacrificed for the other. The Narrator serves as a conduit for this idea, as through the majority of the book, he sets aside his true self in order to fit the identity the whites around him expect him to exhibit. Only when The Narrator realizes that …show more content…
Ellison begins the book with the narrator, young and naive, believing that because of his smarts and successes, he would be able to change society for the good of his community within the boundaries outlined. Therefore, when he was invited to give a speech to the town big shots, the opportunity was considered “a triumph for [his] whole community”(17). However, before he could give his speech he was forced to participate in a barbaric fight, pinning blindfolded black men against one another in a fighting ring until only one is left standing; during this fight named The Battle Royal, the white men watch, shouting vulgarities at the boys for entertainment. Only after the Narrator is beaten almost unconscious, did he deliver his speech. Even after all he went through “the men were still talking and laughing” as “[the narrator’s] dry mouth, filling up with blood from the cut, almost strangled [him]”(30). It is obvious not only do the white men not care about what he has to say, but that they just see the narrator as another Negro. Despite his high achievements as a promising and educated young man, despite his willingness to work within the system placed upon him, he is still reduced to nothing but barbarism. He transforms himself into “ an example of desirable conduct”(17) by white society, yet forced to still face the pain, suffering and humiliation inflicted onto him by the white man. Along with outwardly carrying himself as a black man made in the white man’s image, he even convinced himself that it was necessary for blacks to properly fit within a white world. After taking Mr.Norton to see Trueblood and the Golden Day, exposing him to unfiltered reality, the Narrator even went as far as to