- “I say this to assure you that it is incorrect to assume that, because I’m invisible and live in a hole, I am dead” (Ellison 6)
- “I am one of the most irresponsible beings that ever lived. Irresponsibility is part of my invisibility…to whom can I be responsible, and why should I be, when you refuse to see me?” (Ellison 14)
Using the archaeological dig for The Invisible Man, I first want to say that at first it was difficult for me to see what invisibility actually was. After reading thoroughly through the pages, I then began to realize connections with racism. “Invisibility” is just a metaphor for being an African-American in society.
“I say this to assure you that it is incorrect to assume that, because I’m invisible and live in a hole, I am dead.” (Ellison 6) This quote stuck out to me, because the first time I read this passage, I truly felt as if maybe he was dead, or it was a metaphor for freedom or another idea. He lives as an invisible man, but not like a ghost. This got me thinking. Is he not dead? If he is not dead then what is this story? In the first paragraph Ellison states “when they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments or their imagination–indeed, everything and anything except me,” (Ellison 3). Reading this at first, I immediately assumed that the invisible man was actually a metaphor. The first few pages, I went in thinking that this was a non-existing thing, until I reached the quote assuring me that he was a living being.
“I am one of the most irresponsible beings that ever lived. Irresponsibility is part of my invisibility…to whom can I be responsible, and why should I be, when you refuse to see me?” (Ellison 14) After reading the first quote and beginning to switch up my angle of what the invisible man is, I began to see the connection with racism. His connection to Luis Armstrong, where he’s asking similar questions and implying the struggles that they are both invisible, but Luis Armstrong just doesn’t know it. I asked myself, what does the narrator and Luis Armstrong have in common? The break down of Luis Armstrong’s music and what the narrator felt from it really is what gave me the answer to who is the invisible man. The quote about irresponsibility was a strong one. When reading it, I felt why he chose to be invisible, rather than allow people to make him invisible. He knows what he is doing is wrong, but if he is going to be treated like less than a person, like an invisible man, then he will take the advantages that come with it, such as being irresponsible. To agree that he is irresponsible, we are assuring him that he is invisible, because to him responsibility comes from being seen.
I also did assume that invisibility was part of a metaphor. I didn’t understand that it had anything to do with racism until the part about him bumping into a man. “–when it occurred to me that the man had not seen me,…walking nightmare”. And even there, I just had hints of racism or even him looking at himself as lesser than someone. To me, it seems like its his idea of living, and not a living being forced upon him. In other words, he seems contented with living as an “invisible man”. I assumed that from where he speaks of rent or where he lives and describes his living conditions. “My hole is warm and full of light”, “Light confirms my reality, gives birth to my form…”. I also would assume his contentment because of his take on irresponsibility. He’s not going to assume responsibility because he thinks that he is invisible due to his color, or no one can actually think of him as important; therefore, his actions will not be accounted for. So, I think he’s pretty comfortable. Although, when he says light to confirm reality and also the part of him listening to music, sort of makes me think if he might actually pity himself for being an “invisible man”.