Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

In Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison highlights the values of society through the narrator’s experiences with those openly opposing him, as well as those who are secretively opposing him. The narrator transitions from a naïve, young man to one who is aware of society’s fight against him. In the beginning of the novel, the narrator reflects on the past experiences that have led him to developing an invisible character. At first, he takes his grandfather’s advice literally, but later on he develops a new interpretation to his grandfather’s words. The values of society are highlighted through the way people identify the narrator to be who they want him to be, how they display different versions of themselves when it is convenient to them, and by how

Brother Wrestrum tells the narrator that the Brothers should be united and they must separate from anyone who tries to ruin the integrity of the organization. He advises the narrator to be careful as they “have to watch [them]selves” (Ellison 393). Brother Wrestrum, wanting to trick the narrator, compares the organization to the followers of Ras the Exhorter and claims, “none of us got no true flag ‘cause that flag don’t really belong to us.” (Ellison 395). Wrestrum believes that the American ideals do not include blacks, but he purposefully tries to jeopardize the narrator’s position in the Brotherhood because he wants to be powerful. The white characters were condescending to the black character, which then caused the black characters to turn against one another and belittle each other. As much as society advocates for division, it is impossible because it is by definition all-inclusive. The popular views of society are the ones shared by the majority. The popular views impact the opposing, minority views. Wrestrum and Bledsoe’s greed for power reflects on society, although they do not consider society to be accepting of them, because the people are what makes up society. All of the characters are part of

Brother Jack wants the narrator to reflect his ideas because those are the values that would appeal to the American society at the time. He is using the narrator as a mirror to create a second version of himself, and of society as a whole. The narrator’s opposition to Brother Jack’s way of thinking causes conflict between the two. The difference in values causes the narrator to question “so now I have become an enemy” (Ellison 405). The narrator does not understand how people could identify themselves as being helper of the oppressed, but are unwilling to support the ideas of oppressed people. The narrator realizes that he is being identified by