The Passage of a Black Man from the State of Innocence and Maturity - Essay Example

The Passage of a Black man from the of innocence and maturity The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is not just a story revolving around the protagonist, but it reflects the issue of identity felt by many of a particular community. The story begins with a prologue providing the exact ground of situation under which the plot has been formed. Ellison takes the maximum opportunity to express his mind through the character of the protagonist [the narrator] regarding the sufferings of Black people under the tough and make belief treatment for white people, who were actually exploiting the black. The theme of identity is analysed along with the additional focus towards how a man transfers from the state of being innocence to maturity. The narrator, like other black men, lives through a condition that is under the complete control of the white men. He, develops his believes towards every action and rule of the whites, beginning from his school days. The narrator starts the narration of the background stories, which had brought him to this kind of a life in a dark place, hidden from the others. The continuous experience does not really teach him what he really is? Then he seems to accept all the commands of the people, whom he believes the most and faces all the insults without realising the fact that he had been treated just like a slave. The aspect of realisation begins only when he is described the experiences of Clifton and Tarp by them. The transformation of a man from an innocent mind to a matured one starts from here; however, the end portion of the novel covers this transformation. The characteristics of white men, adds additional explanations for the reader to analyse the reason behind the innocence of the narrator. Right from the beginning, white men are portrayed as just providing a make belief situation and treatment towards the black, but their actual intension becomes quiet clear as the narration of several incidents reflecting on an exploiting trend towards black men. The protagonist is one of the few men affected or worst hit, but he does not seem to realise this. He also never thinks of rationalising their way of treatment towards this particular community. What makes his to live in this way becomes clear when the narrator expresses his gratitude and belief towards Dr.Bledsoe. He is the President of the college in which the narrator studies. Though he appears to be in favour of the black students, he lives with an inner personality totally working for the white men’s ideals. He has been portrayed by the narrator as working in a dual role to enhance his means of living. Dr. Bledsoe and Mr.Norton [one of the benefactors of the school], play significant roles in determining the turning points of the protagonist. Bledsoe’s tore intension was to throw away the narrator out of the school environments. However, he tries to implement his intension by punishing him for having taken Norton to an unintended place. The narrator’s experiences with Norton plays a double role. Firstly, it appears that the narrator gains a word of appreciation for having worked sincerely in the school; as a result, he was allotted to drive for Norton. Secondly, he seems to raise hands for the narrator when he receives the punishment, which proves to be in vein. He represents one of the make believe trends of white men. However, he was the first man to learn about the invisibility of the narrator. As a sort of punishment, the narrator was ordered by Bledsoe to work in New York, where he is supposed to work under an important person. Harlem was the place in New York where the narrator arrives to work. It was Harlem, which gives him a whole lot experience to come out of his innocence and feel the matured state of mind. So far, he had not been thinking over why there had been fights between the black and white men. He just remained ignorant of all the differences that laid between the white and the black, but in Harlem he enters with a heavy mind contemplating on the unexpected treatment given by Bledsoe, on whom he had lot of faith and belief. Probably this contemplation marks the beginning of his development into maturity. However, his innocence continues to remain when he shows his sustained belief towards Bledsoe by obeying what he instructed towards the letters. He was not supposed to open and read them, the narrator too out of preformed faith doest not attempt to open them. The letter contained the actual intension of Bledsoe [not to take the narrator back to school again] to Mr. Emerson who will employ the narrator. It was with the intrusion of Emerson’s son the narrator comes to know of what has been written over there. Again he feels a sense of frustration and becomes disappointed. This disappointment makes him to develop a sense of revenge on Bledsoe. He joins a paint factory under the control of Brockway, and for the first time the narrator has been introduced to a Brotherhood meeting for which he gets scolded by Brockway. His search for identity begins from a serious perspective from here onwards. He leaves his job and starts wandering into the streets of Harlem. He encounters with an incident in which he happens to meet an old couple who have been undergone some injustice. He intervenes into the crowd, delivers a small oration, and clears the way for them. Following this incident, he meets Brother Jack. Jack’s interest is reflected towards the narrator becomes very clear when he readily offers him a job in the Brotherhood. There commences the narrators’ first recognition. Here he meets other personalities like Brother Tarp and Clifton, who perfectly help him directly and indirectly to understand his identity in the society. Trap shows him a link, which he had left nineteen years before due to fear of the Brotherhood committee. Meanwhile he gets a sexual relationship with a married woman. However, he thinks of Brotherhood who might not like this sort of relationship and so leaves her .He attends a meeting after a short time interval and finds lot of changes taken place. He could see the sudden disappearance of Trap and Clifton from the Brotherhood. Though he has been appreciated for his nice work-in skills, his attachment with the link provided by Trap teaches him the fact that Brotherhood is also a reflection of the make-believe trend of the white men. The reason behind Trap’s imprisonment and Clifton’s decision to sell dolls in the street shocks him raring the working of Brotherhood. Both of these men from Brotherhood had been accused of offending white community. The narrator learns a lot from Trap’s imprisonment that in Brotherhood too he could identify a similar treatment like that of Bledsoe. Trap’s notion of the chain link, shows a lot more hint of his struggle to represent his isdentity. In fact, this appears to be similar in the case of Clifton. The narrator is shocked to find a man in a good position suddenly selling dolls in the streets. Clifton too was trying to establish his identity, but he too was betrayed by Brotherhood. The full version of transformation from innocence to maturity takes its major role when the narrator realises that Brotherhood is also like Bledsoe’s commanding rule, working mainly to exploit the work of a particular community and then leaving them unnoticed. Now the narrator reaches a state where he realises that he was also used by men in power as a sort of exploitation not as a man of talent. He then concludes that it is the fate of his community to live under the powerful arms. So he becomes very clear that he need to live a life like other people of his community lives, and accept things according to his stride and not leading a life under the instructions of others. Read More