In the novel Invisible Man, author Ralph Ellison takes readers on adventure into invisibility. By invisible he is not meaning physically unseen, but he means the type of invisibility that takes place when society overlooks a person’s character and skills and sees them only as a physical being. Throughout the first half of the book, a man known only has the “Invisible Man,” finds himself graduating in the top of the class, to studying for 3 years at presumably the Tuskegee institute, and eventually being expelled from school and living in Harlem, New York. The placement of Invisible Man in Harlem, New York during this time period is extremely interesting. Invisible Man finds himself in Harlem in the 1930’s, which was coincidentally the Harlem Renaissance, a time of Black enlightenment in art, music, and poetry. Invisible Man understands that the Harlem Renaissance is an important part of Black expression, but he himself has found it awfully hard to express himself without the fear of being rejected by whites and stereotyped by society.
Chapter thirteen finds Invisible Man walking along a New York street. Ironically he passes an advertisement for skin whitening ointments. The sign says “You too can be truly beautiful. Win greater happiness with whiter complexion. Be outstanding in your social set” (262). The significance of the sign deals with the everyday struggle some blacks face. In America, blacks are persecuted and ridiculed on the basis of their skin color. Some believe if they were white or if they act white enough, they can finally be “seen” by members of other races. This idea is similar to what Invisible Man is dealing with throughout the first half of the novel. He is so occupied with pleasing the white man that he loses sight of himself in the process. Invisible Man looked up to Dr. Bledsoe because he is what some would call an “Uncle Tom,” meaning he would say and do anything to appease the whites. In a sense this “Uncle Tom” title is what Invisible Man wanted; he wanted white people to “see” him as person rather than a savage animal.
After Invisible Man sees the sign, he immediately sees a man selling hot candied yams. He buys Yams from the man, and is immediately overcome with a sense of relief. Invisible Man says “ [He was overcome with an intense feeling of freedom—simply because I was eating while walking along the street. It was exhilarating. I no longer had to worry about who saw me or about what was proper” (264). Although Invisible Man indicated that he was raised in a household that enjoyed the delicacies of “southern food,” until this point he had felt uncomfortable about eating them in public. His embarrassment was due to his intense desire to be “seen” as a man rather than an animal. Invisible Man showed his embarrassment earlier in the novel when he becomes upset when a chef at a diner offers him the daily special which happened to be a pork chop. He felt the chef just wanted to see him engage in a “black” act by eating the pork chop. Though he is very naïve, Invisible Man is not all to blame for his embarrassment. Society has stereotyped every race with specific foods and items. For instance, according to stereotypes, blacks are somehow tied exclusively to watermelon, fried chicken and kool-aid. How those three things became a symbol of being “black” is still questioned, but they do show how blacks are still “invisible.” Ellison wrote the novel several years ago thinking he was only speaking to his times, but his story of the Invisible Man seems to still be relevant today. There are some who continue to refuse to “see” blacks, and see them only as the stereotypes they fit.
- Questions
- What is your view on stereotypes? Are they a result of “invisibility”? or are they simply social facts of society?
- Although the boys at the Men’s House are all black just like invisible man, why do look at him with disgust?
- Do you think Invisible Man is starting to realize he is “invisible”? or Do you think he was a little while longer to live in his naïve state?
This scene, when IM is “overcome by an intense feeling of freedom” (Ellison 264) as he walks down the street eating a baked yam, bears a striking resemblance to a passage in Booker T. Washington’s “Up from Slavery.” Washington recalls some of his mistresses eating ginger-cakes in the yard and says, “At that time those cakes seemed to me to be absolutely the most tempting and desirable things that I had ever seen; and I then and there resolved that, if I ever got free, the height of my ambition would be reached if I could get to the point where I could secure and eat ginger-cakes in the way that I saw those ladies doing” (Washington 5). In both of these instances, the very simple act of eating, or the very act of thinking of it, brings a profound sense of freedom to these men. Ironically, IM feels free yet he fails to recognize why he feels the way he does. He proceeds to denounce the elements of life in the South as he ponders the effects of exposing Bledsoe as “a sneaky chitterling lover.” In his reverie he exclaims, “I accuse you of indulging in a filthy habit, Bledsoe!” (Ellison 265), alluding to his aversion towards his own culture and the negativity with which he views it. This is the challenge IM faces in this book; rather than assimilating into white culture at the expense of his own identity, he must assert himself as an individual and diverge from the path set out for him by the whites. After reading the end of the novel, it is moments like these that can be recalled when determining the true extent of IM’s transformation.
ReplyDeleteSource:
ReplyDeleteWashington, Booker T. Up from Slavery, an Autobiography. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1963. Print.