Vision In Invisible Man

Vision, one of the most important senses humans and animals have. Without sight, we are instantly vulnerable and require extra time before we can fully adapt. However there is literal vision and a deeper level of vision. Clear vision is the ability to see and analyze people and situations on a deeper level. Many people like the narrator of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, do not realize they are actually blind until they complete their hero’s journey and gain clear vision. The narrator of Invisible Man talks about how he is underground and writes about his journey that eventually leads him to present time. The hero’s journey is where a hero strives to attain clear vision, as well as discovering true identity. The narrator in Invisible Man ventures

When the narrator awakens in the hospital he experienced a near death experience, “They were holding me firmly… and above it all I kept hearing the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth,” (232). When he hears Beethoven’s fifth, this represents his confrontation with death, since Beethoven’s Fifth usually signifies death coming. While facing his near death situation, he also faces his other underlying fears as well. When the doctors discuss “treatment” options such as frontal lobe lobotomy and castration, to the narrator, “Their simplest words seemed to refer to something else as did many of the notions that unfurled in my head,” (236), and as he recognizes his fears seem to be coming true, his body reacts negatively, “a pain tearing through me,” (236).The confrontation with death and fears mixed with the narrator’s disillusioned state represents a symbolic death that the narrator experiences. When he wakes up from shock treatment, he is baptized and rebirth, “I felt a tug at my belly, and looked down to see one of the physicians pull the cord which was attached to the stomach node,” (243), this scene represents the cutting of the umbilical cord, much like a child just coming out of the womb. He is reborn and feels disconnected and confused, not remembering his name, but when he emerges from the hospital he views everything differently. The narrator, stepping onto the street, “was no longer afraid. Not of important men, not of trustees and such… there was no reason to be afraid,” (249), this new vision and confidence is the result from his confrontation and rebirth. As he is saved by Mary and is walking down the street eating yams, “I no longer had to worry about who saw me or about what was proper. To hell with that,” (266), he was finally understanding that views people had about him