The Power Of Identity In Invisible Man By Ralph Ellison

Trapped in the paradox of self-identity and living in fear: It's a painful notion. Racial Discrimination created prevailed through generations and can be examined in Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and Beloved by Toni Morrison. Initially, both protagonists struggle to formulate their identity as they both struggle with their haunting past and present. As they progress in their journeys, they are able to find the hope that can give them momentum to move forward. Towards the end, they have a realization of the truth and their hope leads them to their identity while it disappears. Racial Injustice leads to irreparable scars, however, through the power of hope, one can lead themselves to a successful journey of self-discovery.

In the beginning

For Invisible Man, he begins to realize that the brotherhood wasn't his real identity and that they have also been corrupted by society. While he’s in the brotherhood and embracing his new name, he states, “No, I thought, shifting my body, they're the same legs on which I've come so far from home. And yet they were somehow new” (Ellison 338). Ellison really brings to life the notion that entering the Brotherhood results in the narrator changing drastically. Even the Brotherhood, who he thought had his best interests at heart, never really cared as long as he carried out their goals. In reality, the narrator is only starting his trip, and the brotherhood shined a light on his true self. By the end of the novel Invisible Man reflects by saying, “The hibernation is over. I must shake off the old skin and come up for breath.” (Ellison 580).In order to illuminate his path, he burns the papers in his briefcase that he had been carrying throughout his journey and that each relate to one of his previous identities (his diploma, his scholarship letter, his new Brotherhood Name, etc.). This final symbolism implies that in order for the narrator to genuinely be free, he must let go of the prior selves that were created while under the influence of others. On the other side, Sethe, like Invisible Man realizes that the hope that she believed was her path to her identity was in fact false. Sethe affirms Beloved’s nature as part of her by saying, “Beloved, you are my sister, you are my daughter, you are my face; you are me” (Beloved 214). But as time passes, Sethe continues to avoid facing her past and piecing together the pieces of her broken self. Instead, like Invisible Man, she is unhealthily obsessed over Beloved, which causes her to gradually lose more and more of who she is. In retrospect, it's clear that Invisible Man and Sethe had a lot in common in that