In the city he comes in contact with an organization. Harlem is a New York burrow famous for Jazz and Black culture. Bledsoe who does not culturally empower the student body and Mr. However the college is led and directed by Dr. He faces heavy oppression by White society. The first chapters of the book I Am is in the South. The book takes place throughout the 1920 and 30’s. The time in history represents the experiences of both the author and the main character. “Ellison follows his black hero out of the South… with a direct consideration of the relationships of the civil war to all aspects of contemporary society, both North and South”, (Volger 67). Racism and discrimination was rapid and blatant in society. It is a time in America when Jim Crow and segregation was alive and heavily enforced. The novel, Invisible Man, was written in 1947 by Ralph Ellison. Through this point of view the audience witnesses the transformation of I Am from a naive young man into a mature adult. He is able to recognize the oppressiveness of the organization as well as greater society. Learning more about his culture, I Am learns more about himself. He first gets a job at a factory, before becoming a public speaker for the Black organization known as the Brotherhood. However, when he moves to Harlem I Am begins a slow journey to manhood. He is forced to fight a battle royal to earn his right to an education but is later expelled for taking his White dean to a Black brothel. At the beginning of the book he has received a scholarship for being public speaker and the ability to move audiences. He is African American, he is male, he is young, he is from the South. The point of view comes from an individual who views himself a social outcast. Many of the situations I Am finds himself in, relates back to his culture, his place in society, and his social identity. I Am gives way to the journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance that is reached by the end of the book. However, throughout the remainder of this research, the main character will be called I Am. This is a technique done purposely by the writer. The name of the main character is never revealed. The voice is the narrator and main character. This is seen in the first line of the book where it states: “I am an invisible man” (Ellison 3). The point of view of the novel is first person. “The novel can be studied as an existential one for it deals directly with questions of individual existence, identity formation, and the meaning of life for a Black man confronted with racism and cultural stereotypes”, (Neimneh, Muhaidat, Al-Omari, & Al-Shalabi 61). It includes individuality, identity, and self-discovery. This reflects that journey of transformation that occurs within the character. In this way, Invisible Man is considered an existentialist novel or bildungsroman. It addresses the oppressions faced by people of color that goes against mainstream White society. The novel works to protest against racism and the cloak of invisibility that is placed on Black people. This is because of “the extent and complexity of the social problems of the Negro, and of the essential part of these problems took in any attempt to achieve an overall view of American society” (Volger 66). Some scholars call the book, a protest novel. It represents African American literature. Invisibility is used as a metaphor for the oppression faced by African American men throughout society as the narrator comes to a greater understanding of himself. In many ways, Ellison compares what it means to be invisible, to what it means to be Black. Norton, the Brotherhood, his loss of home, of ambition, of hope, of friends”, (Bourassa 2). “The myriad problems faced by the nameless narrator of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man: the cruel disillusionments he undergoes with Dr. Stealing electricity from the city, he lives underground invisible to the rest of the world. In the beginning of the book he is figuratively invisible, by the end of the book he is literally invisible. Despite the places he goes and relationships he builds, the world continues to ignore him. The audience is able to watch events unfold as he interacts with society and the people around him. This is because the main character –the invisible man- is Black. The invisibility is also figurative, “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me” (Ellison 3). Invisibility is literal because he is ignored by mainstream society. He is invisible both literal and physical. It tells the story of a nameless man who is invisible. Invisible Man is an American literary classic.
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