After reading this novel and studying up on Ralph Ellison, I felt something I never have with a book. I honestly had never read anything with as much style and originality as this book had. The ideology of Ellison is shown through his main character. The narrator’s journey ascribes racism and blindness as the factors of what is wrong with society. He, himself, was at one time blind to the individual identity. The narrator accepted this collectivist culture of racism and prejudice until his epiphany near the end of the book. As the novel progressed, the narrator progressed as well in terms of enlightenment on his own culture. As the narrator declares, “America is woven of many strands; I would recognize them and let it so remain. It's "winner take …show more content…
The narrator is back underground, reciting his reasons for telling his story of how he got there. The novel ends with self-realization. The narrator begins to understand why society is so blind and why racism exists. That quote was the most influential and honest piece of writing I have ever got out of a book. Today, writing seems to be so complacent. More and more novels are being pushed out, none with legendary or classic fell of books like this. Also, the great thing about this passage is the fact that it can be taken out of the context of the book and be used in other cultures. The section of the novel involving the paint factory was, to me, the most metaphorically oppressing experience for the main character. The narrator takes up a job to replace a white factory worker while he is on strike. As mentioned earlier, this happened a lot in that time. Companies would hire black employees for low wages because the Union didn’t represent them at the time. What happens in that factory is a very eye-opening event into how whites regarded themselves in comparison with blacks. So many metaphors were used with the black and white paint colors that it was border-line