Tag Archives: The Invisible Man

Invisibility vs. Existence? The reasons behind his invisibility

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Ralph Ellison conveys an important message at the beginning of the prolog, from the fourth to the fifth paragraph, that the main character ‘invisible man’ does exist, but he is not visible. His invisibility is caused by people’s failures in identifying their own fallacies which made them not be able to acknowledge the invisible man’s existence.

This conclusion arrived after proving the invisible man’s existence and invisibility during a fight between him and a tall blond man. Ellison carefully hinted readers of the invisible man’s physical existence by describing his actions: “I bumped into”, “I sprang at him”, “seized”, “butted him again and again”, and “kicked him repeatedly” and so forth, which indeed caused the tall blond man “profusely bleeding”. But the invisible man all of a sudden gave upon his revenge when he already got out his knife and was almost about slit the white man’s throat. Why? The invisible man abruptly realized that the white man firmly believed that the invisible man does not at all exist, because the white man still refused to see the invisible man even he was beaten up to the point of death. When facing the threat of death, a rational man can still hold onto his belief must mean that he is deadly convinced by his belief, no matter if it is out of rationality. Just like people who devoted their lives to serve Nazi during WWII, even if the consequence of them holding onto their beliefs, later on, are proved to be catastrophic to the human race, they were unshakeable toward their convictions. There is no point in arguing with a person when he doesn’t even acknowledge the existence of the argument itself. What are you arguing about? Thereby, the invisible man developed a deep sense of shamaness and disgust—that he can change people’s mind. He even felt “amused” by his innocent fancies and the efforts of proving his visibility to people who do not recognize his existence in the first place. But the every fact proves that he does EXIST, it is not the invisible man himself, but the people who made him INVISIBLE. What a brilliant way to name the real criminals of the invisible violence.

Racism behind Invisibility

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“I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids — and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination — indeed, everything and anything except me.”

In the “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison, we can already can see the central struggle of the novel. The narrator begins the prologue by introducing himself as invisible.”I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me,” not that it is one of his superpowers, nor is it due to accident, but because people in society ignore him because of the color of his skin. With this the narrator explains to the reader that this invisibility duos as an advantage yet a disadvantage. Yes, he doesn’t have to deal with other people’s problems and ordeals yet he aches to be seen and treated with respect his peers. The narrator write this prologue without ever saying his name. In doing so, the narrator is using his invisible as an advantage, to freely speak his mind without having to risk the consequences. His identity is even hid to the reader that he is confessing all of his feelings too.

The narrator realizes that the reason he is invisible to white people is because he is black, therefore, he describes them as blind. Stereotypes play a huge role in the setting of the novel. This is during postwar America in which whites viewed blacks in a certain light, as untrustworthy, muggers, etc. The narrator does not like how there are multiple identities given to him due to the color of his skin. Instead of his individuality, his qualities, his personality, people see him as something entirely different. This is seemingly difficult for the narrator as it doesn’t allow him to put his best foot forward in situations. This makes the narrator struggle with how others perceive him as well as how he perceives himself. This explains racism as a whole in itself, as those that are affected can relate to how stereotypes are used to describe them as a person.

What Did I Do To Be So Blue?

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Ralph Ellison’s first-person narrative in monologue form reveals the pains black people were suffering in American society over half a century ago.

When I finished absorbing the last sentence of this article, there was a voice ringing in my head as though hearing a sorrow tune in the distance… “What did I do to be so black and blue…” A deep sense of compassion overwhelmed me and I quickly flipped back to the first page and restart from the very beginning.
Ellison first introduces the main character in the first-person, who laments his invisibility to the white “sleep-walkers” of society. He tells a tale about how he almost killed a “sleep-walking” man on the street after the man blindly cursed him, even after being severely beaten. The narrator uses the metaphor of invisibility stating that this maltreatment towards black people is not because they are born invisible, it’s because they are born into a society that chooses not to see them.

As Ellison portrays in his work, what triggered this almost-murder is the insults the “tall blond man” shot at the invisible man. The white man was blind to the harm he did to the invisible man and kept cursing at him, although a simple solution would have been a sincere apology. Synonymous words to “invisible” repeatedly appeared in this passage, including the blind, unseen, and formless. These words emphasized the discrimination black people were subjected to and the extreme illness of a society at that point. Through the vivid depiction of the invisible man’s thoughts after the incident, readers finally understood the significance of “blue” in his sorrowful song. “I was both disgusted and ashamed. I was like a drunken man myself…Then I was amused.” Beating someone within an inch of his life and the yet absolute refusal of the sleepwalker to apologize hit the invisible man with a stark reality: “Would he have awakened at the point of death?” He would forever remain invisible.

Living in the Dark and Light of the Society

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When interacted with other people, the Invisible Man maintains a negative and dark aroma around himself. But when alone, he lives in light. The darkness symbolizes eeriness and danger. Walking through the dark, it is understood to walk with fear and uncertainness of what is to happen next. While the light symbolizes purity and freedom. The light gives a sense of security and alertness that isn’t available in the dark. We soon learn that the Invisible Man is in fact a black man. One dark night, the invisible man was approached by a man that called insulting names towards the Invisible Man. Throughout the fight, the night was dark and had no trace of lightness.  The Invisible Man kicked him repeatedly and prepared to slit his throat. At that moment, the slightest streak of light from a car stabbed through the darkness. With the slightest streak of lightness, the fighting stopped and the man was free, just like the fight never happened. The light confirms his reality, the fact that he is in fact nothing supernatural. The light symbols the white society, and how they reject him as a person due to the color of his skin. The author uses the symbols of light and dark by portraying good and bad of the different races.

The Invisible Man is nothing supernatural. He is a man of substance, flesh and bone, and possess a mind. In the world that he lives in, he is simply invisible to those who refuse to see him based on the color of his skin. Only one can become invisible if others refuse not to see him. This begins a recurring idea of blindness. The blindness of the Invisible Man shows how people willfully avoid being able to see the truth and accept his race. In this society,  “That invisibility to which I refer occurs because of a peculiar disposition of the eyes of those with whom I come in contact.” (Ellison, 3). This can be related into todays society, the constant struggle of #BlackLivesMatter. African Americans are constantly portrayed by the color of their skin instead of how they are. Today, people clutch their purses a little tighter and lock their car doors when African Americans are within sight.