The Change In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

Change is commonly associated with everyone and everything in life. We see it in our surroundings and in the people and creatures we encounter, and is not as significant for every scenario, whether it is involved with someone’s personality, health, or the environment. Most people are not the same person they were five years ago due to the different experiences which assisted them to shed their aged skin; revealing the new persona they have acquired. Some events in our life change us for the worse or better, all depending upon the order of events and affected individuals. In the realistic fiction Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the narrator changed drastically from the beginning to the end of the novel with three major events contributing to his development. The protagonist progressed from being naive and blind to reality to eventually honing the

For instance, he fought Mr. Brockway, the old man in the basement of the Liberty Paints factory, which is an action his old self would not consider. The fight between the narrator and Brockway is ultimately interfered by an explosion of the boiler tanks instantly leading the invisible man to the hospital to recover when the author states, “And what’s more, the voice went on triumphantly, the patient is both physically and neurally whole. But what of his psychology? Absolutely of no importance! the voice said. The patient will live as he has to live, and with absolute integrity” (Ellison, Page 236). The explosion changes the invisible man to become true to himself, and to act in manners in which his past self would never even think of committing. The new and awakened invisible man would fight for what he believes in, as seen during his speech in a gathering crowd of an eviction in Harlem, and would try to figure out who is helping him and whether they are actually a threat to him or