The Importance Of Alienation In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

In the novel Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison writes a symbolical story about a man who discovers the essence of the black American identity and his role within it. From his beginnings as "a black educated fool” (Ellison, 143) to his current stage of invisibility, the speaker had many conflicts in which he gained a lot of wisdom, courage and life lessons. In Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates writes as an atheist raised by "activists" who came to a realization about race through many experiences. Society 's equality efforts should focus on the mistreatment of black people and the prevalence of the following: black prejudice and black social injustice.
In the novels of Ralph Ellison and Ta-Nehisi Coates, one controversial issue has been …show more content…
Black prejudice is definitely shown in the book Invisible Man. Ralph Ellison 's novel creates a character that shows how its alienation shows society 's moral values. Ellison states, "You 're a black educated fool, son" (Ellison,143). Basically, what Ellison is saying that the narrator is educated yet he is still a fool. That is still an underlying problem today. Black people have to be in the middle but never "one" or the "other". For example, you could have a well-educated black businessman in a suit and tie, perfect at everything he does, and never had visible faults; however one day he commits a nonviolent crime such as, white-collared crime. Say, for instance, he embezzles his corporation 's account for personal financial gain and gets sentenced to twenty years or more. White People would take his actions as a hindsight bias and say, "I saw it coming. He is a black man. No matter how they are dressed, they are still criminals." This enhances the uprising of black prejudice. The same crime can be done by a white male but they are punished differently. Black Americans are still treated indifferently, but society tries to say that everyone is equal. Which leads to black people being unconsciously stereotyped. Yes there are equality laws and yes segregation has been abolished, but society still fails to realize that these laws have to be acted upon. Black Americans are …show more content…
Coates states, "This is how we lose our softness. This is how they steal our right to smile"(Coates, 28) . In other words, Coates is arguing that the social injustice acted upon African Americans is causing them to act a certain way, that they were not born that way. Black people can be twice as good but only receive half the credit versus a Caucasian person putting forth less effort and receiving full credit, which is known as white privilege. White people constantly say that everyone is equal, but in reality, they are not. The Black Lives Matter movement wants to tell the world that black people are getting treated indifferently. My own view, however, is that social inequality is getting out of hand and needs to be resolved quickly. People have blinders on and people want to pretend they do not see what is currently happening; therefore, the problem will not be solved. Prince Jones, for example, was shot by a police officer who thought he was another criminal. Some critics believe that all lives matter. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that all lives do not matter but that slogan throws "black lives matter" away. What Coates is trying to say is that black people have always experienced social injustice. By giving Prince 's death as an example it brings more attention to the fact that a black