The Invisible Man: Overcoming the Dual Identity of the Negro in America
The invisible man tells the story of a young Black man who starts his journey for a better life. Going through a long series of sensational and emotionally intense events, he shapes a new perspective through which he views the world around him. In the beginning, Ralph Ellison tells the story of a black pilot stranded on a mission abroad with his fellow White military men. Much like this pilot, the narrator has a difficult time finding himself. Both characters are trapped in the ambivalence rising from two parts of their identity that don’t seem to mix very well: being black and being American. One of the major themes present throughout the book is the narrator’s identity, how it has been shaped and how it evolves affected by major events in his life. Throughout the book, Ellison emphasizes the duality of the Negro’s identity in white America. This concept, introduced by W.E.B DuBois as “double consciousness,” shapes the narrator’s world; it is another challenge for him on the way to true self-realization.
The narrator starts by remembering the days when he was invisible. “I am invisible understand simply because people refuse to see me.” [1, p.3] he was invisible not to others physical eyes, but to their conscience which shapes their understanding of what they see; therefore, their reality. The narrator’s identity has been compromised and washed away by the dominant White society and its cruel treatment of blacks. There is no room for black Souls to shine. The road to success is preceded by a process of repressing one’s emotions and humanity and ultimately the mindset of “white is right.” this is characterized in many ways through the experience of the narrator with the college. First, he’s forced to participate in a battle royal. He is literally and metaphorically blindsided and fights his peers in a grotesque inhumane way for white amusement and entertainment. The college continuously encourages the students to be loyal to the founders “Noble” vision of helping lift poor blacks out of poverty. The narrator is Lured into the system not knowing he is only playing the white man’s game to erase his identity. His identity is presented as connected and interdependent to some form of whiteness. One of the vets at Golden day, the bar he visits with one of the trustees, attempts to wake him up from this illusion and remind him that he is a “walking zombie.” [1, P.94] Throughout his trip with the trustee, he sees everything through his eyes. He is disgusted and embarrassed by the realities of life that his fellow brothers and sisters go through. At this point, the limits of the veil prevent him from engaging in his black identity. one of the first sites he remembers from the college is this statue of the founder holding available of the face of a kneeling slave. This image captures the essence of the institution. While referencing DuBois’ articulation of the veil, the author hints at the corrupted academic machine that measures its success by feeding this double consciousness.
The narrator’s journey to find his true identity starts with the number seven. He receives seven letters from Dr. Bledsoe in order to find a job in the North, but he’s confused when he finds out that the letters say nothing but discouraging words about him. The number seven, that usually symbolizes greatness and completeness, is used in the story a few times to mark significant points that contribute to the characters efforts of finding himself. In the souls of black folk, DuBois says that “The Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil and gifted with second sight.” [2, P.3] the narrator travels to the north with the mindset of living in content in his place, doing what he was supposed to do, and returning. He had cast down his bucket a long time ago. In New York, he engages in components of black culture like folklore and food, but he seems uncomfortable openly accepting them.
One of the major points in the story where Ellison points out the different realities of being white or black in America is the narrator’s experience in the Liberty Paints factory. In Liberty Paints, the only color is pure white, and the logo is an American bald eagle. This image cleverly points out the hypocrisy and the falsehood of the ideals of American freedom. In America’s Melting Pot, every other culture and identity is absorbed by the dominant culture and the only right complexion is white. The immense racially discriminative society shapes a white image of what the Negro should be and “bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism.” [2, P.3] America refuses to accept the diversity of its citizens and whitewashes their efforts to disguise racism. The social relations within Liberty Paints, which symbolize the experiences of a black man in America, physically hurt him. He ends up going to the hospital; he is treated with shock therapy and feels disconnected from his body. He slowly starts to recognize the effects of double consciousness on his identity.
The narrator slowly starts to give up his commitment to white Americanism. Ellison articulates this defining moment of identification for the character with the simple yet expressive image of a southern meal. As he gradually frees himself from the confines of double consciousness, he starts to find his identity through small acts. One day in passing he buys some hot buttered yam; with no shame of eating his southern meal in public, he attempts to visit his roots to shape his true self. He realizes that his black southern manners are part of his identity. During his Harlem days, he explores another aspect of his identity by joining the brotherhood. Soon he realizes that he has swayed from his path as he figures out the true intentions of the brotherhood. Initially, lacking a positive self-image, he accepts the rules of the brotherhood without questioning. He accepts a life full of violence and danger for the promise of being the next Booker T. Washington. He realizes that he has been trapped in the ideology of the brotherhood; he has let them tell him how to think. During this time, he comes across another event that reflects his identity as a black man in America. He sees Todd Clifton selling Sambo dolls in the street. Clifton is controlling the dolls that represent the stereotypes of a black man. He is in this world in control of his blackness. He tries to subvert the strategies that whites implement to manipulate blacks and take away their independence. After an interaction with the police, He is arrested. There is something about the image of a black man with self-awareness that invokes a violent response in them. The white officer abuses and harass him and when he responds he shoots and kills him. This establishes a new perspective of life as a black man in America in the narrator’s mind.
Leaving the brotherhood and realizing that he has been a sellout while trying to help people, makes him reflect on his past. He recognizes that a sum of all his experiences, and not the acceptance or rejection of others, that has established who he is. In one of his encounters with a brotherhood member’s wife, he explores the racialized sexuality of blacks. Sybil, a white woman, shows him without any filter that she perceives him as a sexual animal and he wants him to fulfil her fantasies of getting raped by a black man. He grabs his briefcase form the college, which has been following him like his psychological baggage, and walks underneath a bridge. He is splattered by bird droppings, so he tries to protect himself with the black briefcase. Just like the mockingbirds on the founder’s this reminds him of the white stain on black history. He is bound up in the same situations his grandfather was in. He gets to his underground basement again. He has tried to reflect on the meaning of his life and found out how to deal with his invisibility. Even though he is invisible, he still believes he has a social role to play.
All in All, Ralph Ellison employs a complex combination of symbols and evets to follow the evolution of the main character’s identity throughout the book. At every point, double consciousness is a visible theme. The narrator struggles to connect to other blacks and their life and sees the world from the perspective of whites. He struggles to find his true identity as a black man. He sees many signs like the statue of the founder literally holding a veil over a slave, but the limits of the veil do not allow him to liberate himself. The Narrator’s journey in the Invisible Man is more or less an internal spiritual one. Before he can truly understand the world around him, he needs to figure out his place and his identity within society. Even though the violent, discriminatory, and cruel realities are still present when Ellison is writing this work, he likes to play “A mere game of as if.” [1, p.xx] The first step to liberation is its articulation and imagination. Ellison wants all black people to be free of the veil. He simply tries to move, even one small step, toward the ideal. Whiteness has imposed a barrier of understanding and communication between the races. Fictional works like the Invisible Man present a possibility of overcoming these barriers of race, religion, class, or color; the possibility of having a future with true self-consciousness for everyone; the future in which everyone can claim what they deserve.
The path to self-awareness and liberation of conscience requires effort. One needs to explore their roots, relations, and imagination. eat the yam! because “the yam is the power that be.” [3] This is the path to true liberation and success. Ellison condones being a “sellout” all throughout the book; meaning being content in the limits of double consciousness and enjoying the fruits of a corrupt system that exploits and oppressed masses of people. The Narrator goes through this journey of exploring his true conscience despite the violence and hardships. Attacking the nobility of sacrifice and empathy is part of the dictation of whites on the imagination of the oppressed. It is crucial to be alert not to give up one’s identity, culture, and dignity for comfort while oppressive systems of power remain unchallenged. “if I gotta brown nose for some gold, Then I’d rather be a bum than a motherfuckin’ baller.” [3]
[1] Ellison, R. (2002). Invisible man: Ralph Ellison. New York: Spark Pub, P3
[2] Souls of Black Folk, P3
[3] Kendrick Lamar, King Kunta – to pimp a butterfly
Scrambled eggs rhetoric, and so on and so on.... 