Motifs in The Invisible Man by Ralph Elison Literature Essay Sample

📌Category: Books
📌Words: 552
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 08 June 2022

“He was making something down here, something that had to do with paint, and probably something too filthy and dangerous for white men to be willing to do even for money” (IM; 212). In the novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Ellison uses motifs such as the motifs of vision and blindness, black and white, and machines to create the novel’s overall theme. The use of these motifs helps to create the overall theme through the use of repetition and symbolism. The theme within the novel is the class division and exploitation of black people done by the white people of society. Invisible Man throughout the novel experiences a progression of events which Ellison uses to convey his overall theme and message. Ralph Ellison uses the motifs of vision and blindness, black and white, and machines to convey his overall theme and message of class division and exploitation of black people during the 1900s.

The use of vision and blindness throughout the novel is used as symbolism to represent Invisible Man’s failure to see or understand the society and class divisions around them. “I felt the cloth pressed into place, and frowned so that it would be loosened when I relaxed. But now I felt a sudden fit of blind terror. I was unused to darkness” (21). During the first time Invisible Man is blinded; he is fighting other black boys that are also blinded for the amusement of the white men watching. This symbolizes the Invisible Man’s unawareness of his situation and how he is exploited by white men for their entertainment which helps add to the overall theme of the novel by showing the class division and exploitation of black people through the use of blindness. Another example of vision being used to portray his failure to see how he is being exploited by the Brotherhood is when he first gives his speech for the Brotherhood and he was blinded by a spotlight and was making a speech as he was blinded by the spotlight. “I could see rows of blurred faces--then suddenly I was blinded and felt myself crash into the man ahead of me” (IM; 338). Invisible Man’s inability to see how he was being exploited is shown here because as he gives his speech he becomes a blind leader for an audience he can’t see. This symbolizes that he leads blindly without knowledge of who he is leading and where he is leading them. 

The motif of black and white is used throughout the novel to help emphasize the overall theme of class division of race and power. During the beginning of the novel, Invisible Man is forced to fight other black boys; then scramble for money on an electrified rug for the entertainment of the white men. This event is symbolic due to its representation of the power white people have over blacks and how blacks have to endure that power to make money to survive. “I lunged for a yellow coin lying on the blue design of the carpet, touching it / The rug was electrified” (IM; 27). The literal power with which the black boys and the narrator are electrocuted with is symbolic of the white power over the black boys. The black boys continue to grab the money which shows how black people have to continue to endure to survive which entertains the white people. This event adds to the overall theme of the novel by showing the class division and exploitation of blacks by showing them as elements of entertainment to be separated from the whites.

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