Invisible Man
While walking the streets of New York City, the narrator comes into contact with a yam vendor. As the sweet scent of yams reaches the Invisible Man's nose, they "[brought] a stab of swift nostaligia." This wonderful smell takes the narrator back to a time when he was young and with his loved ones. The Invisible Man remembers the inocence of youth, as he and his classmates snuck yams into their class. At this thorugh, the narrator purchased a yam and as he devoured it, a "surge of homesickness that [he] turned away to keep [his] control." Ellison uses the yam to symbolize the South, the home that the narrator once knew and loved. These memories all led back to one person who had a tremendous affect on the IM's life - Dr. Bledsoe. As the narrator finished the remaining yams, he dreams of confronting Dr. Bledose and calling him a "shameless chitterling eater." Thinking of everything that had happened in his life, the narrator was filled with anger. This anger prompted him to laugh as he continued ridiculing Dr. Bledsoe. He began to realize that he did not care about what the docotro thought, in fact, he did not care abou
The narrator begins to believe in a new philosophy, "I yam what I am. In this wonderful scene, the narrator changes in a great way, he finally becomes proud of his identity, accepts himself, and his heritage. The pulp of the yam represents who the narrator truely is inside, which is why it rises above or out of the rest of the yam. As the Invisible Man eats his yams, he realizes that hisheritage is sweet and wonderful unlike what he used to believe. Throughout this scene, Ralph Ellison shows the Invisible Man's growth from his original character to a man with a new identity. The breaking of the yam symbolizes yet another rebirth to a new identity. Ralph Ellison uses detail as well as diction to stress the effects of the Invisible Man's transition. The narrator's awakening is complete, he has finally accepted who he truely is and is proud of his heritage. While looking at the novel as a whole, it is easily seen how the yam scene relates to the Invisible Man's rebirth in chapter eleven. The Invisible Man has won the ultimate war - the war within himself. The yam scene threads Ellison's main theme throughout the book. These new throughts brought with them a new intese feeling of freedom. Throughout Ralph Ellison's novel, he uses many literary devices to reveal the Invisble Man's awakening. This scene shows how the narrator denied his heritage and southern roots. The "yam" represents the fruits of the narrator's labor, his heritage, and a symbol of the south.
Common topics in this essay:
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,
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Acceptance Essays
