Pursue in the Despair

涂莉媛

【Abstract】Invisible Man is a novel written by Ralph Ellison, a major writer of African—American literature. After reading, I have some ideas about it, which are all showed in the following text.

【Keyword】desperate, struggle, self-identity, racial discrimination

The book Invisible Man is an author of classics in the African-American literature, it led African-American literature attained to a high degree of maturity. It has a lot of characteristics of Western Contemporary Literature: In the ideology, it raises that one in the universe and search for self-identity; In art, this book has a lot of point that creative, combined with realism and surrealism, the use of black humor led to postmodernism in American literature.

The concluding section of the book is important, particularly in view of the fact that when the narrator thus speaks for“ you”--- humanity at large, he transcends the physical limits of an African-American individuality, becomes, all of a sudden, anyone, an Everyman, and his dilemma, thus generalized and magnified, assumes a universal magnitude. One becomes suddenly aware that what he has been talking about all along concerns the plight, not merely of an African-American individual, not even of the African-American race alone, but of the modern existence of man as a whole. The repeated rejection that the protagonist suffers at the hands of so many people and institutions becomes a metaphor for the rejection of the individual by society. It is the question of the interrelationship between the self and the world. The world (or the community or society) requires that all individuals conform to its standards and values and comply with its demands. This could not be done except through the individual giving up at least part of his individuality to fit as parts in the machine. Thus the world can be the enemy to the existence of the self. This could be one sense in which Grandpas injunction can be understood. The self is placed in the enemy territory: it is in an ever on-going confrontation with the world around it. This is apparently everyones dilemma in an age in which self-awareness and self-identity become increasingly serious considerations. How people should behave in relation to others and to society at large: this is the question that the novel tries to help solve. Ellisons “Epilogue” addresses the beautifully well. It redefines the correlation between social responsibility and self-identity. Society may encroach upon self for role-playing; self depends upon society for self-definition. These two, self vs. world, should not be mutually exclusive; in fact they are mutually complementary. There is no complete freedom or independence. Denial of self is not good; neither is social denial. Life being what it is, a part of us has to “die “ in order for us to live in fellowship. The thing that matters is to strike a happy mean between these two. Invisible Man thus ends with counseling participation in life on this new level of awareness. In all probability, the protagonist is climbing out of his hole: “ Here Ive set out to throw my anger into the worlds face, but now that Ive tried to put it all down the old fascination with playing a role returns, and Im drawn upward again.” This is where Ellison makes it everyones business to identify with the protagonist. Indeed, Ellisons aim in writing the novel is to represent what he termed “ the American theme” and he achieved a great success in turning the impressive story of a young African-American boys life into an odyssey of modern mans quest for self-realization and turning, incidentally, the book into what a critic calls “ a resolutely honest, tormented, profoundly American book.”

In American history racial discrimination is always exists, the black people were forced transported to North America as slaves. After that time, the black people could never get rid of racial discrimination. They are not accepted by the American society, and they have not the equal right with other people that block the development of their culture and their individual life. Also there are many terrible events because of discrimination. In order to avoid and shake off this unequally position the black people had fought for many times. Martin Luther King was the most famous people in the history of Africa-American people fought for equality. Although this fight will be very long and difficult, the black people never give up.

In American society there are many main reasons for racial discrimination: 1. American system contributes this discrimination. 2. The polity gives the basic of discrimination. 3. The behavior of many black people gives the evidences of the white Americans to look down them. 4. The history of the fight of the black people is still short.

Although it is hard, the black people still hope to achieve the new and hopeful life. And their works of literature are full of the consciousness of self-identity and struggle.

Invisible Man is a great work. The notion of invisibility, the overriding symbol all through the novel, appear to be metaphysical at first because difficult to identify with immediately, but with some stretch of the imagination on the part of the readers, it becomes alarmingly physical and true as a universal fact of life. It forces all people to think and contemplate about their own situation. Then we notice, among other things, the exquisite skill with which Ellison manipulates his prose style. As Ellison himself professes, he dreamed of a flexible and swift style, at once facing the brutal experience of modern man and expressing hope, human fraternity, and individual self-realization. It is a style which uses all the resources of the language, its riches, its idiomatic expression and the rhetorical flourishes from past period of still alive today. Thus Invisible Man begins with a language more or less naturalistic, moves to something like expressionistic, and ends with a surrealistic texture. Ellison is trying to use a Protean style to achieve a reality no less mutable.

For me it is not only a major classic but also a very good and interesting story that encourage me to achieve my goal.