Response to Invisible Man, by Sr. Agatha Mensah

My Topic
Invisible Man has evoked a variety of feelings and emotions within me. There were many sections that I liked about the book, and there were many sections that I did not like.

My Focus

Author Ralph Ellison chose a very good title for this book, because he describes how difficult it was for a black man to be recognized in white society. My focus is to delve into the title more deeply to unveil what was behind it. In addition, I want to know his central theme for his story.

What I learned from the story

During the time that the writer wrote  his book in 1947, blacks were nobody in this country. Their efforts were not recognized by the whites. I learned from this story that any black person who wanted to be treated the same as any white person had to experience many difficulties. The following quote explains it all: “If it’s Optic White, It’s the Right White” (217). This was because white people felt superior to blacks.

Question 1: How is this reading experience going for you? Briefly explain.

From the very beginning of the novel, the narrator made himself known as an “invisible man.” This statement is repeated many times in his story, because the narrator thought about himself as being invisible due to the racism in the United States when Ellison wrote the book in 1947. His main worry was how people were unable to see and confront the truth. He struggled to gain independence for the black people. In his story, he used the first person narrative, “I am an invisible man” (3). He talked about how he was not ashamed of the fact that his grandparents  were slaves (15). Throughout the book, the narrator was seeking his destiny, and he said, “All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was” (15).

 Ellison uses the “flashback” technique throughout the story (16). The narrator told the story of his grandfather who did not like white people. This bothered the narrator, because he was loved by white people at the beginning and, through them, he was given a scholarship to attend college.  He also referred to Booker T. Washington’s speech, “Cast your bucket where you are” (29) in his own words, because he wanted a friendly relation among all races. The narrator was afraid when he was delivering his speech, because he did not know whether the people would recognize his ability (24). 

The narrator shared all that he went through in life to his readers. He described characters who played a significant role in his life, and those who caused damage to him that, in turn, led to his expulsion from school. The narrator went to New York to seek employment at the factory, which eventually made him very sick. Throughout his life, he had good people to help him, such as Mary Rambo. The narrator stood up to fight for freedom for the black people.

After reading many books written by black people, I could see that many of the authors experienced racism. The invisible man did not experience actual  slavery. However, he experienced the devastating result of generations who have suffered from slavery before it was abolished. The narrator used dialogue when Dr. Blesdsoe was interrogating him on Norton’s issue (137). The narrator was insulted by Dr. Blesdsoe, who said, “You’re nobody, son. You don’t exist—can’t you see that?” He was insulted because he was not supposed to take Mr. Norton to the “Golden day” (138). He was expelled from the school and then went to New York (145). The narrator went through a lot of troubles in his life because of racism; the “N” word appears often in his story.

The lesson I learned from this story was the narrator’s courage to be able to stand against terrible situations, such as the ongoing effect of slavery. For example, he was brave when he was sacked from school. He also cultivated the habit of reading when he read countless books from the library (258). In the story, he regretted going to New York, because he liked to study.  Indeed, the narrator really suffered in the story. Due to his health, the doctor advised him to refrain from work, and this became a big issue for him. However, at long last, he adjusted to the situation. The narrator showed us in his book that we cannot run away from our own shadow; we cannot change how God made us. 

I liked the way the narrator told his story, because experience is the best teacher. He pinpointed all that he went through from the beginning to the end. Life was full of ups and downs for him. For example, Wrestrum accused him by saying “He aims to control the movement uptown. He wants to be a dictator” (401)! The narrator was intelligent in telling his story to his readers by putting in a lot of strategies to win the readers’ attention.

One thing I did not like about the narrator was when he started accusing the whites by saying that the white people “are all against us” (270).  Initially, he was liked by the white people as long as he behaved in a certain way. He liked them because of the scholarship and the brief case. The narrator’s story was full of irony and satire. The author’s presentation was confusing, complex and frustrating. He goes back and forth to present his ideas, which sometimes becomes irritating. The story was very long, with a lot of ideas. I had difficulties focusing on the main idea of the novel.

In summary,  Invisible Man used symbols to convey his message throughout the book. The most important message is that black people were considered to mean absolutely nothing … to be invisible in the eyes of a deeply unjust system, dominated by racism. The narrator ended his story by saying that “The end was in the beginning” (571) to put his readers in a thinking mood. In a nutshell, I will say that the narrator fought the good fight with all his might.

Works Cited

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage Books, 1947. Print.