Essay on Racism in Invisible Man

In Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison teaches the reader through vast stories about the amount of invisibility that was placed among black people during the 1930s.  Within the capacity of not being seen creates low self esteem, and a feeling of unwantedness.  For example, the narrator was asked to answer questions about himself in terms of his blackness during one of the chapters.  This scene produced desires to be accepted by the lead character.  The main character and narrator convey the aspiration to be recognized and respected.

The lead character's drive to be acknowledged arises from the fact that he has been treated as less his entire life.  Whether it is being verbally attacked, physically attacked, or plain out avoided, the main character lacks acceptance from several due to his race:  “I didn't understand in those pre-invisible days that their hate, and mine too, was charged with fear. How all of us at the college hated the black-belt people, the “peasants,” during those days! We were trying to lift them up and they, like Trueblood, did everything it seemed to pull us down” (Ellison 47).  This quote shows the intensity in how the narrator feels about stereotypes in which the college students attempted to abolish.  

Throughout the Invisible Man, the main character completes several tasks, in which he believes will lead him to be recognized by others.  In the beginning, he begins working odd jobs to make money.  The book taking place in the 1930s factors into the importance of money.  In this time period money wasn’t just money.  Money meant power, and power gave people a social status which couldn’t be ignored.  Whether he was mixing paint, or being an uber, the main character knew money could lead him to feeling accepted.   Later on, after joining a brotherhood for African Americans, the lead character is found fighting, and voicing his opinion on black equality.  The brotherhood allows him to be heard in a way he hasn’t been before.  In addition to feeling heard, the brotherhood adds a sense of reliability, and unity with people of his own race.  Furthermore, the narrator is seen changing himself to align with white people.  “...I would put on my best manner.  I would speak softly, in my most polished tones, smile agreeably and be most polite… My shoes would be polished, my suit pressed, my hair dressed and parted on the right side; my nails would be clean and my armpits well deodorized… You couldn’t let them think all of us smelled bad” (Ellison 157).  Here the narrator shifts into a man who feels the need to present himself differently to satisfy his oppressors, which are white men.  Inside of this quote, he also stereotypes both races.  Whites being stated as clean, obedient, well dressed, and well-spoken: and blacks are implied to be dirty, disobedient, and inarticulate.  This adds to the theme that the main character will do anything to mask who he is.

To finalize, Ralph Ellison once said “Imitation is suicide, envy is ignorance” (Ralph Ellison Quotes).  This means that a person must take themselves for better or worse.  Throughout Invisible Man, the main character struggles with racism and white supremacy, for he cannot define himself.  The narrator goes through constant difficulties which cause him to change himself for the approval of others.  From the beginning of time until present day, the desire to fit in is a persistent journey within humanity as a whole.