Invisible Man Thesis

In Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison the narrator view the race relation between blacks and whites in the south as black people were treated as if they were not qualified to be considered a human being. In the north white people were prestigious and black people were barely treated with dignity and respect. The narrator viewed the civil rights movement as the greatest problem in white America and a violent movement. Ellison opens his novel by addressing his invisibility and his experience as an African American male in the south. The narrator appeals to the emotions of the audience by first recalling his experience at the Battle Royal stating that because he had no control over his motions he had “no dignity” (18). White people used the battle royal to strip African Americans of their dignity in order to use them as entertainment. This shows the lack of respect whites had for African Americans. The lack of respect and treatment with dignity for the blacks in the north was just as bad as the south, When the narrator mistakenly said social “ equality”

The narrator found employment at Liberty Paints which he thought was a good job. Liberty Paint was a white man's job they only hired black people because white people refused to work in the union for such little pay. In Invisible Man the narrator read an electric sign at his job saying “ KEEP AMERICA PURE WITH LIBERTY PURE WITH LIBERTY PAINT.” Liberty Paint Plant mix several drops of black graduate into white paint to achieve optic white paint. This shows the idea of white supremacy in the