Invisible Man Essay

Invisible Man is an American novel that was written by author Ralph Ellison and was published by The New American Library in 1952 in New York City. The novel is about the narrator who is a young, black man, living in post-civil war America during the 1920’s and the 1930’s. The young man lives his whole life in hardship just because of the color of his skin. These hardships began first by being humiliated in front of multiple white men by fighting other black boys for worthless coins. The narrator was to fight the other boys until told otherwise. He was lucky enough to win a scholarship to a “prestigious” black college for fighting. At the end of his junior year of college, the narrator takes a job driving Mr. Norton, one of the college’s white

He is sent to New York City by the college president with letters of recommendation hoping to find work to earn his yearly tuition. He is then only let down when he finds out that the “letters of recommendation” were really insulting him and ruining his chances at getting a job or returning to school. His story then continues as he attempts to survive in New York City. He joins a social activism group called the Brotherhood that focuses on helping and fighting for people like him. He uses his gift of public speaking to support the Brotherhood and their agenda, gaining hundreds of fans and followers who believed in the words he was speaking. When things started to look better for the narrator he hits another bump in the road when he is accused of using the Brotherhood for personal benefit by a fellow brother. He is sent to another district while an investigation takes place. After returning to help the Brotherhood the narrator begins to piece together the puzzle and realize that he is being used as a speaker and nothing more than that. He is merely a piece in a large game being played by the Brotherhood and by Ras the

This very well could be who Ellison intended to reach. A novel such as this could be used as a very good education tool. Ellison is writing down and telling his story to better educate white people in general on what African Americans personally felt and had to endure during the early to mid-1900s. This could better help stop segregation and put a stop to racial prejudice. After reading this novel, people may think twice about the stereotypes they hear or say. I however, don’t think Ralph Ellison had an actual audience in mind. I believe that his main goal was to tell his story so that as many people as possible would hear it. I think he wanted to educate the United States and even the world as a whole so that African Americans never have to be treated as poorly as they were in that