The Narrators Metamorphosis in Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man Essay

The Narrators Metamorphosis in Ralph Ellisons Invisible ManA unadulterated glance at the title of Ralph Ellisons book, Invisible Man, stimulates questions such as, Who is this man? and, more importantly, Why is this man invisible? The anonymous narrator of Ellisons novel begins by assure the reader that he is, in fact, a real person and is not invisible in the Hollywood sense of the term, but, rather, invisible simply because people disdain to see him for who he really is (3). The actions of both blacks and whites toward the anonymous narrator of the novel during his search for identity lead him to this conclusion. The narrator begins the story of his realization of his invisibility at the end of his high school days, as an intelligent and diligent student in an unidentified southern U.S. state in the early part of the twentieth century. Upon giving an excellent spoken communication about the role humility plays in progress, prominent members of the community invite him to recite the speech once again at a gathering of the towns leading white citizens (17). At the meeting, though, the high-ranked members of the community force the narrator and other black boys to participate in what the narrator terms a battle royal, in which they fight each other and attempt to pull fake plastic coins from an electric rug. The narrator proceeds to win the battle royal, and presents his speech to the wealthy men (17). Throughout the delivery of his speech, they mock and harass him, failing to see who he really is. The schools superintendent then rewards him with a scholarship to college. Because of the nifty reward and the doors the reward opens up, the narrator accepts the subhuman treatment as normal. Still a weak character, he allows people to... ...s dramatically. He now realizes people do not and will not see him for who he is, and yet he is willing to play the part in society he feels he must(prenominal) play.Works Cited and ConsultedBone, Robert. The Negro Novel i n America. New Haven Yale U P, 1966.________.Ralph Ellison and the uses of the Imagination. Ralph Ellison A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. John Hersey. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, 1974.Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. 1952. Harmondsworth Penguin, 1987.Gates, Henry L., younger ed. Black Literature and Literary Theory. New York Methuen, 1984.Hersey, John, ed. Ralph Ellison A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice Hall, 1974.Kartiganer, Donald M., and Malcolm Griffith. Theories of American Literature. New York Macmillan, 1972.Smith, Anthony D. The Ethnic Revival. Cambridge Cambridge U P, 1981.