The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison Review Sample

The novel, The Invisible Man, can be viewed as a coming of age narrative in many ways through which a pugnacious young man strives to ascend through the broken systems that eventually rejects him. The narrator, whose name is not revealed, thinks very high of people and is very trusting (Ellison 24). He attends college, an experience that is not common for the blacks at the time the story is narrated. The raconteur is an innocent character, and at times, this innocence is his dreadful flow. He struggles to find himself and most often he feels invisible to everyone in his surroundings.

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The protagonist opens the narrative with the line "I am an invisible man." which introduces his feeling of inferiority and invisibility. However, the novel is organized into a series of dashed expectations and hopes, beginning with the unnamed university promise where the narrator thought will develop himself after the founder. The narrator invests faith in the good will of other people only to discover that his ambitions and expectations thwarted and he never makes it to the other side.

The raconteur changes so incredibly from a younger naive self to a disillusioned older person that can almost be viewed as two distinct characters. Being a young black man, he had high hopes and ambition to such an extent that he could even exonerate the white heads of the city for shaming him when he discovered that they also offered him new opportunity to join Negro college. At the college, the narrator sought his identity, away from his kin and Southern home's rearward way of thinking. Unluckily, his downfall was a white benefactor of the college. When the narrator is asked by Mr. Norton to take him to the black community, he obliged and took him to see Mr. True blood. True bloods story of incest shocked Mr. Norton to the extent that he felt ill and asked the raconteur to bring him a whiskey. The narrator then drove Norton to the nearest joint that serves alcohol which was a black dive that was ironically called the Golden Day. Things suddenly got out of hand because of the black men who were in the bar. This saw Norton pass out under the stairs (Ellison 65). Due to this encounter, the raconteur was kicked out of the college by Dr. Bledsoe telling him that a black man must never show a white man what he wants to see, only what he should see." Dr. Bledsoe again tells the protagonist that "When you buck against me, you're bucking against power, rich white folk's power, and the nation's power - which means government power!. This was the first step of the process of disillusionment for the narrator. After the unfavorable encounter, the narrator went to New York to seek his fortune, armed with presumed recommendation letters from Dr. Bledsoe.

In New York, the narrator first tries to get a job with Mr. Bates who does not seem to have time to see him. Next, he tries the same from Mr. Emerson but still he does not succeed. He later realized that Dr. Bledsoe betrayed him and the reports warned against him, hindering him from securing employment opportunities. This is the second experience of disillusionment. However, Mr. Emerson recommends that he look for employment at Liberty Paints.

The lessons of disillusionment continue later in the novel at the painting factory where Mr. Kimbo instructs him to mix ten drops of fluid into every can of paint and then apply a small amount of paint on a wooden board. He quickly notices that the drops of paint are black, but the paint dries as optic white. Seeing this, the narrator becomes furious. Later on, he has blasted away, falls and hits painful stuff and is taken to the hospital. From the hospital, the narrator steps out of the metro only to notice the floor fall out from beneath him (Ellison 101). He then gets spaghetti legs and those surrounding him rush to help, one being Mary Rambo who takes him to her house so that he could get some rest. The following morning after Mary had taken the narrator to her place so that he could rest; he tells her that he had high hopes of becoming an educator at the campus, but his goals have shifted. In this chapter, the narrator says, "One moment I believed, I was dedicated, willing to lie on the blazing coals, do anything to attain a position on the campusthen snap! It was done with, finished, through. Now there was only the problem of forgetting it". The narrator expresses his feeling that he has lost himself in this quote. He is saying that at one moment he was very determined and would do anything to secure a position at the campus, but now all that is gone and nothing about it matters anymore.

However, the narrator wishes he could be that same way again and wishes he could have that part of him back. Here disillusionment is illustrated through the raconteurs loss of what he believed in and what he had hoped for. His hopes and wishes not coming true just like he had thought it would be the case. The narrators experience features the whole group of young black individuals who hope that they could soar up in an increasingly equal society. Another reflection of these shattered ambitions is the ex-doctor from the mental hospital. Soon after he receives recognition in France, he learns that it will never be possible to be truly respected and recognized because of his race (Ellison 125). After he is denied his dignity, the ex-doctor gives up hope of being accepted and eventually ends up as another affiliate of the asylum. After the harsh encounter, the surgeon advice the narrator and tells him to "Play the game, but don't believe in it." The ex-doctor is talking about how harsh some life experiences can be. He is saying that life is structured in the same way as a game only that life is a misleading game. He is trying to help the narrator understand that no matter how high his hopes and ambitions are, life is misleading and that at a certain point, and life will let him down.

The narrative explains a protagonist who is completely dissatisfied with all existing institutions and the acceptable ways of living in the world. Though he has been betrayed and lost his hope and ambitions, he says that he is in the process of hibernation waiting for the right moment when he can start to attain his goals. He acknowledges that his disillusionment process is as discussed above is just a temporary state, but he will soon emerge from his hibernation and pursue his goals despite the challenges.

Works Cited

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Modern Library, 1994. Print.