Towards the end of the 1960s, after the Civil Rights Movement, many blacks welcomed their new freedoms, while inconspicuously losing others. Blacks not only strived for racial equality but a higher economic status as well. For many blacks, the American dream became more about being recognized as a status symbol than as an American citizen. As they became hated for acquiring a piece of this dream, many blacks began to wonder where they belonged. In his work, "Cadillac Flambé," Ralph Ellison shows the struggles that African Americans endured during this time period in their human search for identity.
             Ralph Waldo Ellison was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on March 1, 1914. He attended Tuskegee Institute from 1933 to 1938 pursing a career in music. Directed by his interests in modern literature he met with Richard Wright, the novelist, and became associated with the Federal Writers' Project, where he published short stories and articles in such magazines as New Challenge and New Masses. "Cadillac Flambé" is one of several pieces from Ellison's final work that occupied him from 1952 until ultimately his death in 1994. Ellison, in "Cadillac Flambé" and other pieces, composed a mix of works influenced by his home, musical background, and the African American community and the obstacles they faced.
             Ellison captures the African Americans' struggles in many of his works. "Cadillac Flambé" stands out as it shows the desperation African Americans' were approaching. LeeWillie Minifees was forced to destroy everything that he thought he stood for. This delusion of dishonor was really an attack against indignity. LeeWillie felt when he acquired the Cadillac that he had acquired the American dream. When the senator called his Cadillac a "Coon Cage" he shot down his dream, and LeeWillie felt stripped of his identity. African Americans, like LeeWillie, we're searching for a place in society, a piece of the pie. LeeWillie felt that his Cadil...