Throughout our American Literature class we read many short stories, essays, and poems constructed by many different famous authors portraying a variety of themes. Some of the works we looked at were written in the time of modernism, contemporary, and the Harlem Renaissance. Recently I read Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison. This book was published by Random House in 1952, Invisible Man is bildungsroman and is composed of 581 pages total. Invisible Man is a story from a young black man’s perspective, he feels displaced and traumatized by the struggles with racism he faces in South Harlem. The narrator was found to be a gifted public speaker and was given the opportunity to go to a prestigious black college until he was later humiliated by deceiving
…show more content…
The narrator undergoes many conflicts dealing with racism throughout the book and racism is one of the main themes. When the narrator moves to New York he ends up at Liberty Paints plant where many people from the white society rely on him and other people in the black community. After, when he joins the Brotherhood he thinks him and rest of Brotherhood can overcome racial inequality. Turns out what he thought would help him and the rest of the black community only took a turn for the worst and they ended up treating him the same way all others in the white community did. One of the best quotes I believe was in the book is, “I was naive. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer” (Ellison, pg. 15) I think this quote mimics how the rest of the book is presented. A question I tend to think about when thinking about Invisible Man is: why did Brotherhood change the way they treated the narrator in the book? They treated him so well then changed on him and I don’t know why they would’ve since he was known for being intelligent and kind. In the book I like how they depict the symbol of the “invisible man”. Throughout the story “invisible man” is mentioned quite often. I believe the symbolism for the term “invisible man” is the narrator’s ability to retract from society without anyone knowing since …show more content…
I personally believe this because if you have any interest in the theme racism you will enjoy this book. You will enjoy this book because it is easy to understand but has such a strong message to it. Someone with some type of background having to deal with racism or has family members that dealt with it would easily relate to this book. Along with relatives who had to deal with it, people who have had to deal with being bullied have a high chance of relating to this book due to the fact they have had to deal with similar situations even though their bullying may not be because of race or
The narrator undergoes many conflicts dealing with racism throughout the book and racism is one of the main themes. When the narrator moves to New York he ends up at Liberty Paints plant where many people from the white society rely on him and other people in the black community. After, when he joins the Brotherhood he thinks him and rest of Brotherhood can overcome racial inequality. Turns out what he thought would help him and the rest of the black community only took a turn for the worst and they ended up treating him the same way all others in the white community did. One of the best quotes I believe was in the book is, “I was naive. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer” (Ellison, pg. 15) I think this quote mimics how the rest of the book is presented. A question I tend to think about when thinking about Invisible Man is: why did Brotherhood change the way they treated the narrator in the book? They treated him so well then changed on him and I don’t know why they would’ve since he was known for being intelligent and kind. In the book I like how they depict the symbol of the “invisible man”. Throughout the story “invisible man” is mentioned quite often. I believe the symbolism for the term “invisible man” is the narrator’s ability to retract from society without anyone knowing since …show more content…
I personally believe this because if you have any interest in the theme racism you will enjoy this book. You will enjoy this book because it is easy to understand but has such a strong message to it. Someone with some type of background having to deal with racism or has family members that dealt with it would easily relate to this book. Along with relatives who had to deal with it, people who have had to deal with being bullied have a high chance of relating to this book due to the fact they have had to deal with similar situations even though their bullying may not be because of race or