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Invisible Man By Ralph Ellison Essay

623 Words3 Pages

Ralph Ellison Ralph Ellison was an American novelist that wrote several literary works and eventually had his main book banned. Biographical Information Ralph Ellison was born on March 1, 1914 in Oklahoma City. He had two brothers, but the oldest one died in infancy before Ralph was even born. When he was around three years old, his father, Lewis Ellison, had passed away. Which left his mother, Ida Millsap, alone with two children to take care of by herself. Ralph had a hard life growing up without a dad, but his mother was always there for him. He had loved the Negro Community, and even based some of his novels off of them. Ralph always had a love for Jazz and Classical music. Around the time of 1935, he made a trip …show more content…

It was one of the greatest works of fiction of the 20th Century. He wrote this book to portray the Negro culture. Not too long after Invisible Man was published, it started getting banned from schools. North Carolina’s Randolph County Board of Education was the first place to actually ban the book from their schools. The parents were complaining about how the book was too filthy for teenagers to be reading. The school board took votes on the book, and two of the five wanted to keep the book in the schools. The other three board members wanted to get rid of it and one of them even said there was no literary value in the book. Invisible Man was about an African American who was said to be invisible. He wasn’t physically invisible, but he was said to be because the people around him simply chose not to see him. The book was about the character trying to understand the society and himself. The whole book is basically how the white race tends to not look and talk to the black race, only because the color of their skin. This makes the black race almost feel as if they’re invisible. Ralph also says how it is normal to feel lonely and ignored. It is said that one of the scenes in the book, is based off of the Harlem Riot. The book encourages the readers to learn and examine the painful truth of American History and culture. It also reflects parts of the white culture and dealing with

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