Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man - Essay Example

Because he is black, the narrator automatically finds himself straddling racial barriers and prejudices yet he only begins to realize how he is regarded through the divisions of the equal rights movement by recognizing that he himself is "both sacrificer and victim." (p. 506). This description is apt for every social circle that has accepted him, for the narrator has either been a tool or a symbol in each instance; whether the gathering is white or black, the narrator is never a full member of any group, but only included until sacrificed in the interest of the group.

Ellison reinforces this notion that the narrator is "a disembodied voice" (p. 581) by never offering any real description of him to the point of never even giving the character a name, even when it is changed. The narrator at one point ruminates about his history of humiliations, observing that "They were me; they defined me." (p. 508). Working form this basis, the narrator's degree of invisibility can therefore also be measured by them and, since they hinge upon racial issues, a closer examination of these instances and the people involved underscore the narrator's ultimate lesson.

Likewise, the narrator is not the only "invisible character in the book, given that it applies to an outsider's view of another he is just the only one in the novel that suspects the enormity of the injustice. This paper will attempt to examine both these issues.. The racial strata are divided into four rough categories: bigoted whites, whites sympathetic to the black cause, blacks who seek to achieve solidarity across racial lines (equality with whites), and blacks seeking to uplift/aid their race without the help (or interference) of whites.

The first and last tend to believe the absolute worst stereotypes about the other race, while the border categories are often to blinded by their intentions to realize the full ramifications of their actions. The most extreme case of bigoted whites occurs in the scene of the battle royal, where the prominent whites of the narrator's hometown gather to witness a cruel brawl. The narrator, invited to give a speech, is instead forced to box nine other men black men, all of them blindfolded. The fighter are paid after the fight with money scattered across an electrified rug and they must get repeatedly shocked in order to get their reward.

When the narrator is finally allowed to deliver his speech, which includes such platitudes as "cultivating friendly relations with the southern white man" (p.30), under constant heckling form the audience, which results in his accidentally inserting the phrase "social equality." By assuring the crowd that it is a verbal slip, he is allowed to finish his speech and is rewarded with a briefcase and a scholarship to college. In this scene, the narrator and his peers are essentially invisible as individuals to the white gathering, who in turn allow their hatred and prejudices to erase their own identity.

Both groups then become faceless and unidentifiable other than by the color of their skin. Yet is the white gathering who are evidently in control, for, not only do they demean the black men, they reward the blacks only for adhering to the expected social order what