Invisible Man1
"Who the hell am I?" (Ellison 386) This question puzzled the invisible man, the unidentified, anonymous narrator of Ralph Ellison's acclaimed novel Invisible Man. Throughout the story, the narrator embarks on a mental and physical journey to seek what the narrator believes is "true identity," a belief quite mistaken, for he, although unaware of it, had already been inhabiting true identities all along. The narrator's life is filled with constant eruptions of mental traumas. The biggest psychological burden he has is his identity, or rather his misidentity. He feels "wearing on the nerves" (Ellison 3) for people to see him as what they like to believe he is and not see him as what he really is. Throughout his life, he takes on several different identities and none, he thinks, adequately represents his true self, until his final one, as The narrator thinks the many identities he possesses does not reflect himself, but he fails to recognize that identity is simply a mirror that reflects the surrounding and the person who looks into it. It is only in this reflection of the immediate surrounding can the viewers relate the narrator's identity to. The viewers see only the
He is right because anyone who is perceived through an identity is a stereotype because no identity reveals exactly how a person is. He is not invisible but simply not seen as what he thinks he should be seen as. This is his feeling of having a misidentity, but it is his conception of identity which is mistaken. Although Griffin initially felt divided into "two men, the observing one and the one that panicked" (Griffon 48), he eventually learns how people are seen through multiple perspectives. He gets what he wants, recognition and fame, but it is not right he thought, for he is recognized only for his false identity; his identity positions him in the center of thousands of attentions, yet he feels he is unseen; in the brotherhood of thousands of brothers, yet he feels no one knows him. Rinehart, in the story, is an identity which to different people implied a gambler, a briber, a lover, and a Reverend, and even happened to be an identity the narrator incidentally acquires temporarily. But there is no such thing as a proper reflection because his importance varies among different people. He believes he finally found his true identity when he realizes he is invisible to his surroundings; therefore, he assumes invisibility. In the first state, friends will be acquainted and enemies will be formed, while in the second state, the passengers will most likely not bother to know anyone new, and everyone will get off the ship and remain strangers to one another. However the viewer decides to see someone is the identity they assign to that person.
Common topics in this essay:
Negro Griffon,
American Mind,
Jack Tobitt,
Invisible Throughout,
Allan Bloom,
Dr Bledsoe,
Lucius Brockway,
South Probably,
Lucius Brockway's,
Howard Griffin,
closing american,
american mind,
ed york,
identity identity,
closing american mind,
bloom 113,
finally found true,
seen social,
stereotype identity,
john howard,
griffon 161,
mirror reflects,
proper reflection importance,
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Acceptance Essays
