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The Brotherhood In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

524 Words3 Pages

Family morals and ideals influenced the judgment of African Americans during the time. In the second half of Invisible Man, IM has gone through an immense transformation. At this point, IM embraces on the full meaning of his grandfather’s words (Ellison, 16) and he used these principles left out for him becoming a change man. In addition to the ethics of blood related relatives, ideals extended further to the community and friends. The Brotherhood in Invisible Man is an excellent example of this. The attachment that each member has with each other shows how much they value each other. African Americans of the time banded together in organizations similar to this, creating a brand for themselves. These institutions set forward their own principles that each brother or sister followed. People clung to these to an extent where they manipulated their own actions to follow them. The gravity at which family is valued during the time period truly consumed most people. Throughout Invisible Man, family worth impacted the course of events. As IM went through his journey, he came across a …show more content…

Several instances have it where Invisible Man is thinking about his family, where it be his letters to them (309), or his reluctance to face them after getting expelled (146). No matter what situation that Invisible Man ends up in, his family is usually first to mind as a result, which can also be said with the ordeals that the African American race experienced at the time. As previously discussed the importance of family was immense, so whatever occurred to one person reflected on everyone. In times of great disparity African Americans looked towards their families as a beacon of hope, especially when relatives were all they had left to turn to. In the end families always remained a considerable portion of the day to day lives of African

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