Ralph Waldo Ellison was one of the most brilliant, influential writers of the 19th century whose life experiences inspired his work. He was born on March 1, 1914 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and named after journalist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson (A&E Television Networks n.d.). When Ellison was only 3 years old, his father died from a tragic construction accident, causing his mother to have to work multiple jobs to support him and his younger brother. She worked as a nursemaid, a janitor, and a housemaid to make ends meet for her family (Library of Congress 1). For income, Ellison served as a Merchant Marine during World War II and also was a free-lance photographer and an audio system installer. (Johnson 5). Although he loved jazz music, Ellison’s original career goal was to be a classical music composer and performer. When Ellison was a child, he loved music, playing trumpet at an early age and then studying classical composition at the Tuskegee Institute with William Dawson as his instrutor (Charles Johnson 5). Ellison went to New York City to earn expenses for his senior year at Tuskegee and while in New York, a meeting with writer Richard Wright led him toward writing as a career (Johnson 5). Ellison had every intention of returning to Tuskegee, but the Great Depression prevented him from earning the needed funds. He …show more content…
Ellison felt as though he could make the humiliating, demeaning things blacks had to experience more acceptable through myth (Rankine 124). Creating myths was his way of telling his story in a way in which people going through similar trials within their own lives could relate. For Ellison, myth functioned, like dreams, as a site of transmission for conscious experiences (Rankine