Invisible Man Essay: Identity and Invisibility -- Invisible Man Essays

Identity and Invisibility in unperceivable Man It is not necessary to be a racist to impose invisibility upon another person. Ignoring person or acting as if we had not experiencen him or her, because they make us feel uncomfortable, is the same as pretending that he or she does not exist. Invisibility is what the main character of Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man called it when others would not mark or acknowledge him as a person. The bank clerk describes his invisibility by saying, I am invisible ... simply because people refuse to represent me. Throughout the Prologue, the narrator likens his invisibility to such things as the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows. He later explains that he is neither dead nor in a state of suspended animation, but quite an is in a state of hibernation. (Ellison 6) This invisibility is something that the narrator has come to lease and even embrace, saying that he did not become alive until he spy his invisibility. (Ellison 7) However, as we read on in the story, it is apparent that the invisibility that the narrator experiences, goes much further than just white people unwilling to acknowledge him for who he is. While searching for his true identity, the narrator frequently encounters incompatible people who each see him differently. Who the hell am I? is the research that sticks with him as he realizes that nobody, not even he, understands who he really is. At some points in his life, identities are given up to him, even as he is still trying to find himself. While in the Brotherhood, he was given a new identity which was written on a strip show of paper. (Ellison 309) He was told to starting thinking of himself by that name ... so that eve... ... Cliffs, N.J. Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1971. 45-63. Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York The Modern Library, 1994. Holland, Laurence B. Ellison in total darkness and White Confession, Violence and palaver in Invisible Man. Black Fiction New Studies in the Afro-American original since 1945. Ed. A. Robert Lee. London Vision Press, 1980. 54-73. Klein, Marcus. Ralph Ellison. After Alienation American Novels in Mid-Century. Cleveland humans Pub., 1964. 71-146. Langman, F.H. Reconsidering Invisible Man. The Critical Review. 18 (1976) 114-27. Lieber, Todd M. Ralph Ellison and the Metaphor of Invisibility in Black Literary Tradition. American Quarterly. Mar. 1972 86-100. Major, Clarence. American Poetry Review. Nov/Dec. (1973) 17. Morris, Wright. The World Below. The New York times Book Review 13 Apr.1952 5.