Ralph Ellison
(1913 – 1994)
By
Jae Hyun Kim
Nareen Manookian
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Table
of Contents
I. Biography
II. Overview:
Invisible Man
III. Freudian
Read
IV. Metaphorical
Read
V. Reader
Response
VI. Biographical Read
VII. Historical
Read
VIII. Literary
Devices and Style Elements
IX. Questions
X. Bibliography
and Works Cited
Biography
Ralph Ellison was born on
When World War II came, he joined the Merchant
Marines, and in 1946 married his second wife Fanny McConnell, who financially
supported him while he wrote Invisible Man during his leave. The
novel touched on numerous on-the-border taboo topics, such as incest, black
dominance, and unequal treatment under a gilded image of fairness to the blacks
and won the
National Book Award in 1953. He later met an
author named Richard Wrights, who encouraged him to continue writing
fiction. Around the same time, Ellison’s
short story “Battle Royal” received positive feedback from his editor, who told
him to try to turn it into part of a novel (a.k.a. Invisible Man).
Writing both about his passion and love for jazz and
black equality, Ellison continued to receive awards and honors for his essays
and short stories that soon followed Invisible
Overview: Invisible Man
The
term invisible used within the title of author Ralph Ellison's novel, Invisible
Man, references to the fact that he is “not seen” or recognized by the
society that surrounds him due to the pigmentation of his skin. In fact, the
narrator introduces himself as “the invisible man” as he construes, relaying
that his invisibility is not due to some “biochemical accident” or supernatural
cause but rather to the unwillingness of other people to notice him, for he is
black. He goes on to relay furthermore, how he feels as if he is moving through
a place where he can see all the others surrounding him yet none of them seem
to even acknowledge his being. However the narrator does point out
that his invisibility can both have its advantages as well as its constant
aggravations. Being invisible sometimes takes his mind as far as to makes
him question whether he really exists, which can also signify some sort of
inner depression. He describes his excruciating, deep desire to make others
recognize him, and says he has found that such endeavors rarely succeed.
Being shunned by society altogether for one's skin pigmentation plays a
deep effect within the person's mental psyche and can cause deep sorts of
paranoia within the person mind. Such an incident that would highly effect a person’s mental health occurred to the narrator
within the text. While walking though someplace in the dark at night when
he explains how a blonde man referred to him by using an insulting name, and
the narrator attacked him, demanding a proper apology. He then presumed to
throw the blonde man to the ground, continuing to kick him, as he pulled out
his knife, prepared to slit the man’s throat. He later on found out that
the blonde man had insulted him, or called him an insulting name, for he did
not know who the person was, or could not decipher him within the dark.
Also interesting was the fact that he, along with the blonde man, was printed
in the paper as the reported mugging to be humorous, as he finds it ironical
how some person can be mugged by an “invisible man”.
The narrator
finds himself secretly inhabiting a closed / shut-off section in the basement
of the Monopolated Light & Power Company, a
building which only allows white tenants. His occupancy remains a secret
for he does not pay to live there, and moreover, steals electricity from the
company to light the 1,369 light bulbs he has to shed the darkness. The
company is yet to discover his dwellings, yet notices the stolen electricity
going to an unknown source. The narrator stays in his secret, underground
home, listening to Louis Armstrong’s jazz records at top volume on his
phonograph. He reveals his wish of owning five record
players with which to listen to Armstrong as he likes feeling the vibrations of
the music as well as hearing it. The narrator then relates his
familiarity of listening to Armstrong’s music under the influence of the drug
known as marijuana. He is noted to say that the power of Armstrong’s
music, like the power of marijuana, comes from its ability to change one’s
sense of time. But ultimately, the narrator depicts, he stopped smoking
marijuana, because he felt it dampened his ability to take action, whereas the
music to which he listened impelled him to act. Now, the narrator remains
dormant in his invisibility with his invisible music, preparing for his unnamed
action. He states that the beginning of his story is really the end. He
asks who was responsible for his near-murder of the blond man—after all, the
blond man insulted him. Though he may have been lost in a dream world of sleepwalkers,
the blond man ultimately controlled the dream. Nevertheless, if the blond man
had called a police officer, the narrator would have been blamed for the
incident.
Freudian Read
When racism and bigotry consummate the lives of
countless innocent civilians based solely upon the pigmentation of their skin,
authors such as Ralph Waldo Ellison step in to reveal to the public just how
segregated and bigoted the white man is towards his fellow American. The
black members of our society have actually benefited us in many ways in which
we could not have done ourselves. Inventions such as the traffic lights
and the postal blue bins placed outside on streets collecting civilians mail is
thought up by the minds of African Americans. Yet there was once a time
where they were not only not treated as equals, but were reduced to the level
of a white man's property that he can purchase, exchange, pay for and abuse to
his own will and whim.
Then came the era with the proposed "Three
Fifths Compromise", where the states allowed each black person to be
counted as three fifths of a person in order to raise the population level of
the society and in order to get a higher number of representatives appointed to
their state. The white men in the society did not do this just to make
the black man feel as if he belonged, but to in face better their own greedy
narcissistic selves.
The novel
"Invisible Man" composed by none other than Ralph Ellison,
was his first published work. The unique title amongst itself gives us the
general idea of how the black man was thought of in the eyes of the society
they resided in during those years of racism. To be seen as unseen, or
invisible, allows for an even greater amount of treachery and bigotry pressed
upon the African race by those who assumed themselves greater by some means and
standards. The journey that Ellison sets himself or his characters on
refers back to a psychological matter of the fact. His deep concern for
his own kind of people led him to the fuel to the fire for which this journey
began and started and happened to happen. His innate need to feel the
need to belong as well as the human nature of curiosity kicked in for him to
begin this journey anew in order to search the “Deep South to the streets and
basements of Harlem”, where he sees first hand how the blacks are treated, as
well as some things that they are made to do.
An example of this sort of treatment would be how the black men were reduced to battling with animals in order to entertain the folks forcing this upon them (and to my best of knowledge they were probably of the Caucasian race to begin with). Also these people reduce the African Americans to the status of trophies that they can just happen to own or to have won which took place amongst Communist rallies where all those people are racists and bigots. Such racism, though “gone” in today’s contemporary world, still exist as an underlying fabric sowed deep into the minds of many still devout “skinheads” or KKK members. Although this “club” per say, has been demolished in a sense, members still remain existing and believing these racially slurred beliefs about any other race that is not Caucasian. In short, the critic known as Stewart Lillard summarizes: “In Invisible Man, Ellison attempted to portray the theme of Negro endurance and cultural continuity by devising a plot which would include a maximum of experiences common to the American Negroes, but which could be employed by a wandering hero in an episodic manner. For this plot he relied heavily on the social migration theme that promised equality to the Southern Negro but shattered his hopes in an economic jungle which ended with a dispossession in Harlem” (Literature Resource Center).
Metaphorical Read
From the powerful first line of the novel (“I am an
invisible man”), readers are engaged in the life of the narrator, this
‘invisible man,’ as he tries to tell his story and ‘put invisibility down in
black and white,’” states critic Anthony M. Dykema-VanderArk,
concerning Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. Invisible Man is
a narrative of a young black man on a journey that eventually helps him
identify himself as a man. Ellison, especially through his strategically
clever usage of metaphors, defines the transformation stage to manhood using
this journey as a more serious version of yet another epic Huckleberry-esque adventure.
The narrator, to begin with, is unnamed, which blends
seamlessly with his statement that he is invisible to others. Both of
those qualities that the narrator reveals about his understanding of the world
show that the world is indifferent and even simply ignorant. He is not
truly without a name nor is he literally invisible. Everyone sees him and
accounts for his existence, but people do not try to reach out to him unless he
is doing something significant to their lives. He is
invisible
not from any lack of physicality or intelligence
but because of a willed action of those around him,simply because people refuse to see [him](Dykema 2).
Invisibility – ironically enough – is a state that can only be described by a 
certain perception, which means that it is different
for everyone, and no one’s inability to see something may not always portray the
reality. We know our narrator exists in the form of an African-American
male, so the reality is that he is real and quite visible. He only
describes himself as invisible because others refuse to combine their
perception of reality with the truth. They cannot see the world as our
narrator sees it and they refuse to see the narrator as he views himself.
Therefore, our narrator becomes invisible not because he is not noticed, but
because people refuse to recognize his world.
The expulsion from his school symbolizes the
narrator’s rebirth, a new opportunity for him to identify himself with something.
As the story unfolds, the narrator finds himself in situations that calls for
social scrutiny, but does not see all of them at the same time. Without
his rebirth and recollections of specific events, such as meeting the vets on
the bus to 
lobotomy machine,” after which the narrator buys some
yams and finally starts making significant connections to his origin and
himself (Lillard 1). Yams, just like other
foods, are a symbol of culture and people of a certain area, and finding this
connection was necessary for the narrator to experience the epiphany.
This serves as a perfect example of what the narrator sees as just another
event that meant nothing to him at the time but should remind the readers that
food sometimes represents more than just something to keep hunger pangs
away. In this case, it caused unconscious nostalgia to bite the narrator,
filling him with effervescent memories of his childhood, leaving him hungry for
more of it.
The narrator’s first job as a paint mixer is also
another attempt by Ellison to show that there such an idea as an all-white
community is impossible. The basic idea
in his job was that he had to put some drops of gray liquid into a black mixture,
which then turned bright white, showing that although the appearance of the
entity is purely white, the components underneath require portions of black and
gray, the “other white.” This also ties
into the idea of the narrator being invisible.
Because people refuse to see that the purely white paint is made from a
black chemical (the refusal being in ignorance this time), they assume that all
the parts that came together to create the white paint was white, or similar. This assumption, though reasonable in this
case, is a deviation from reality. Black
does exist.
Our narrator’s journey is more spiritual than
physical, thought it is arguable to state that the readers learn more from it
than the narrator. The unnamed narrator, who portrays everyone with
uncertainty of identity, continues his journey of discovering himself through
the world, as others should.
Reader-Based Response
-- Prejudice,
towards the African American race, remains in the minds of numerous members in
society, and continues even after the end of slavery
-- In
order to learn and expand ones knowledge, they must remove themselves from the
environment they have familiarized with in order to search the world for things
they do not know
-- No
matter how much people want to claim equality, the minority will always feel an
undertone of suppression and the need to rise up amongst everyone else
Biographical Read
--
Ellison is one of the strongest influences on the African American rights movement.
-- Ellison
himself traveled frequently for education. The narrator, in the same
sense and spirit, travels through different worlds to which he is not
accustomed.
-- His
father had wanted to be a poet. He was perhaps (unconsciously) trying to
fulfill his father’s dreams.
-- Richard
Wright was his main supporter of his works and urged him to keep writing
fiction.
-- His
belief - for the most part - agreed with that of the reformist racial policies
of Booker T. Washington.
Historical Read
-- Ellison
started writing the novel in a barn, which may have fitted well with the
constant feeling of isolation and disorientation.
-- T.S.
Elliot’s The Waste Land affected his novel to be more experimental and full of
vivid imagery.
-- The
Harlem Renaissance and silent black rebellions inspired many scenes within the
book.
Literary Devices and Style Elements
-- At
the narrator’s first job since expulsion, his main duty involves mixing paint
and some chemicals to make a “purely white” paint color. In fact, the
chemicals that are involved in this process are gray and black, which shows
that a claimed all-white area is still going to have blacks that are the
foundations of the location.
-- There
are many subtle references to Greek literature, such as his comparing of the
belly dancer back in the “Battle Royale” scene to
Greek sirens, mermaid-like creatures that lured sailors to rocky deaths.
Brother Jack has one eye, which could also be another quick visit into Greek
literature, specifically The Odyssey.
-- Food,
especially the yams the narrator ate, constantly proves itself to be the most
useful tool in helping one remember or identify his true origins.
-- Most
of his messages for black equality and fairness were delivered by other
characters in the story – that is, all but the narrator – in forms of speeches
or rants, just like how the author would speak.
-- The
storytelling setting calls for multiple drastic changes in scene, which only
works if the author keeps his voice interesting. Ellison did this by
always hinting that everyday events and occurrences cause people to
unconsciously segregate between races.
Questions
1. What does
the term "invisible" signify to the author?
a) he means it in the
literal term
b) the pigmentation of his
skin
c) implies to a sort of
silent racism
d) both B and C
2. What is a
clear example of Ralph Ellison's narration projecting resentment towards
society regarding racism?
a) derogatory insults
targeting African Americans
b) his encounter with the
blonde man
c) both A and B
d) none of the above
3. How many
record players does the narrator wish he had to play songs on?
a) 2
b) 3
c) 5
d) 8
4. Who is
the narrators favorite musician?
a) Beethoven
b) U2
c) Hendrix
d) Armstrong
5. What did
the paper report had happened to/with the narrator in the dark?
a) an astounding musical
performance
b) he was arrested for a
crime he did not commit
c) he was involved in a
mugging
d) found with illegal
narcotics
6. Where
does the narrator reside?
a) apartment
b) home
c) streets
d) basement
7. Explain
the reason the narrator was compelled to stop smoking marijuana.
a) it impaired is ability to
act, whereas the messages he wished to follow were compelling him to act
b) he did not have the
necessary amount of money to continue making purchases of the narcotic
c) the drug was impairing
his ability to dissifer between friends and enemies,
which allowed for others to take advantage of him
d) none of the above
8. Judging
from the text, why would the narrator be prosecuted and blamed for the illeged mugging of the blonde man?
a) he initiated the assault
b) he was intoxicated /
under the influence of narcotics
c) he is black
d) none of the above
9. The narrators intent of revealing such occurrences and
situations is to disclose to the reader the obvious lack of...
a) segregation
b) equality
c) racism
d) kindness
10. Ellison
works blues and jazz—specifically that of Louis Armstrong—into the novel to complement
the narrator’s quest to..
A) incorporate improvising
within the text
B) reveal the struggle of
the African American man
C) find answers to his
lingering questions
11. What
food does the narrator connect most closely with, in terms of his origin?
a) Potatoes
b) Chickens
c) Yams
d) Cotton
12. Why does
he claim that he is invisible?
a) People refuse to recognize him
b) He mugs and assaults people in the dark
c) It is a derogatory term for “black”
d) He was the result of a science experiment.
13. How did
the narrator start his journey?
a) Booker T. Washington inspired him
b) The Harem Renaissance forced him to move out of
his town
c) He was expelled from his university
d) He wanted to travel to
14. What
happened at the bar?
a) The narrator got drunk and started a fight
b) The bartender refused service to the narrator
because he was black
c) There was a wild shootout as a white man entered
d) A drunken riot broke out
15. What is
the most significant portion of the job in which the narrator mixed white
paint?
a) The chemical colors used to make white paint
b) The black pipes that prevented steam from building
up
c) The unions forming and undermining the management
d) That his co-worker had fake white teeth
16. Ellison
dropped out of music school to pursue a career in ________
a) Performing arts
b) Liberal arts
c) Visual arts
d) Written arts
17. What
literature was most influential to Ellison?
a) The Odyssey
b) The
c) Ulysses
d) Pride and Prejudice
18. Which
author encouraged Ellison to keep writing?
a) T.S. Eliot
b) Jane Austen
c) James Joyce
d) Richard Wright
19. What did
this author (from previous question) urge him to write?
a) Fiction
b) Non-fiction
c) Autobiography
d) Music theory
20. What type of music do both the narrator and Ellison enjoy listening?
a) Jazz
b) Rock
c) Classical
d) Gangsta Rap
21. The
narrator’s expulsion from the university and his new journey symbolizes
_________
a) Karma
b) Rebirth
c) Martin Luther King
d) All of the above
22. What is
the name of our narrator?
a) Ralph
b) Ellison
c) 50 Cent
d) None of the above
23. A
movement that affected a few scenes in Invisible
Man was _________
a) World War I
b) The Space Race
c)
d) Elizabethan
24. How was
Ellison financially able to support himself through the writing of Invisible Man?
a) His wife supported him
b) Richard Wright lent him enough money
c) Steven Spielberg gave him a blank check and told
him to “write a book titled Invisible Man”
d) He earned enough money as a World War II veteran
25. The
narrator’s origin played a crucial role in the book. Where was Ellison born?
a)
b)
c)
d)
26. BONUS:
Who is the author of Invisible Man?
a) Stephen King
b) All of the above
c) One of the above
d) None of the above
External Links
www.levity.com/corduroy/ellison.htm
http://lfa.atu.edu/brucker/Ellison.html
www.kirjasto.sci.fi/rellison.htm
www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/ellison_r_homepage.html
http://authors.aalbc.com/ellison.htm
Bibliography and Works Cited
Andersson, Ann Willmott .
"Lesson 16 - Ralph Ellison." American Masters. For
Teachers.
PBS.
Anthony M. Dykema-VanderArk, An overview of Invisible Man in an essay for Exploring Novels, Gale, 1998.
"Battle Royal or The Invisible Man," in Short Stories for Students, Vol. 11, The Gale Group, 2001.
Cynthia A. Bily, Critical Essay on "The Invisible Man; or, Battle Royal," Short Stories for Students, Vol. 11, The Gale Group, 2001.
Howe ,
"Invisible Man book notes
summary." Invisible Man Book Notes Summary by Ralph
Ellison. 2000-2006. BookRags
Book Notes.
"Invisible
"Invisible Man Ralph
Ellison Study Guide." SparkNotes:
Invisible Man: Prologue. 2006. SparkNotes.
"Invisible Man -
Study Guide." GradeSaver:
Invisible Man - Study Guide. 1999-2008. GradeSaver.
Kendall Johnson, Critical Essay on "The Invisible Man; or, Battle Royal," Short Stories for Students, Vol. 11, The Gale Group, 2001.
Lillard, Stewart.Ellison's Ambitious Scope in Invisible Man,in English Journal, Vol. 58, No. 6,
September, 1969, pp. 833-39. Reprinted in Novels for
Students, Vol. 2.
Ralph Ellison: The Invisible Man,
in Characters in Twentieth-Century Literature,
Gale Research, 1990.
Ralph Ellison: Invisible Man, in Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300
Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them,
Volume 4: World War II to the Affluent Fifties (1940-1950s), edited by Joyce
Moss and George Wilson, Gale Research, 1997.
William J. Schafer,Ralph Ellison and the Birth of the Anti-Hero,in Critique: Studies in Modern Fiction,
Vol. 10, No. 2, 1968, pp. 81-93. Reprinted in Novels for
Students, Vol. 2.
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