Invisible Individual Awakened Identity

Many critics hesitate to call Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man a Negro novel, though of course it is written by a Negro and is centrally concerned with the experiences of a Negro. However unlike the black writers before him, Ellison does not depict purposefully the unfairness and discrimination of the Negroes; instead, he remains calmly objective when it comes to the black—white relations and reveals his unique opinions on Negroes' search for identities. In a sense, Invisible Man is a bildungsroman (a type of novel that chronicles a character's moral and psychological growth), the narrative and thematic concerns of the story revolve around the development of the young protagonist as an individual. The protagonist sets his feet on his journey with the hope of achieving a concrete identity in the white-dominated society, only to find that he is actually invisible in other's eyes. The universal problem of identity goes beyond the restrictions of the Negro novel and receives worldwide acclaim. Though some black critics accused Ralph Ellison of turning away from the rebellious tradition of Negro protest novel set forth by Richard Wright, more and more discussions of the constitution of American canon has confirmed the status of his Invisible Man as a major modern classic.Can the mission of Negro writers only be restricted on protest? The answer is that a writer has a right of writing on what interests him and that a black cannot only focus his writing on racial problem. The strength of Invisible Man lies in its non—racial and universal question that Ellison puts forward for readers: how to achieve an identity in an alienated hostile society? Invisible Man is such an archetypal existential story of modern times. Ellison works music—specifically black music—jazz and blues into novel to deepen the theme of this novel—quest for identity. Since the appearance of Invisible Man in 1952, a large amount of critical reviews and studies have been made. However, few have attempted to analyze the central theme in terms of music. Therefore, mainly from the unique point of view of music, this thesis is intended to make a more comprehensive and a more detailed analysis of how the protagonist gains the knowledge of himself and the society andthus achieves his identity by realizing his ridiculous state of being invisible in the hostile circumstance from three levels—personal, cultural and social levels.This thesis is divided into four parts. In the Introduction some background knowledge is provided to explain Ralph Ellison the unique Negro writer and his Invisible Man, a unique Negro novel. First the experience of the writer is different from other Negro writers'. The hometown without long—standing slavery tradition made Ellison have a more optimistic belief on life and possibility. The studies he made on western classics and his formal education help his thought break through the racial restriction. In this book with the universal theme, Ellison expresses the common fate of all human beings by describing the Invisible Man's experience and psychological transformation. This is just the point that many western critics praise and many black leaders criticize.Chapter One is intended to analyze the protagonist's quest for personal identity from two angles. Personal identity is the essential truth about an individual. On the one hand, the protagonist's quest for personal identity takes place on the psychological level. In this level he moves from innocence to experience. The story begins with the young innocent Negro deciding to gain a position in the world, but he then does not know that the world is not what it appears. He suffers a series of disillusionment and betrayals, which help him remove his illusions about the reality and the knowledge obtained from his experiences makes him achieve a true personal identity—he becomes at last a mature, introspective man who is really aware of himself.On the other hand, in this part, Ellison works blues and jazz—specifically that of Louis Armstrong—into the novel to complement the protagonist's quest to define himself. As jazz depends on the improvisational talents of individual soloists and as it developed primarily among African-American musicians, it serves as an apt metaphor for the protagonist's struggle for individuality in American society. It also makes an appropriate soundtrack, as it were, for a novel about the search for such individuality. In this sense, jazz plays a very important role in further interpreting the universaltheme—quest for identity.Chapter Two is about the protagonist's quest for cultural identity. The protagonist's quest for cultural identity takes place on the historical level. At the beginning, the protagonist feels ashamed of his own race and race's history and culture, trying to conceal his true identity. But he ends up finding himself falling into chaos and formlessness. To Ellison, one cannot obtain his true identity and true freedom if he (or she) denies his (or her) race's history and culture. Eventually, he begins to cherish them because during his journey his unconscious dependence on the Negro's history is expressed by means of blues and black folktales. It is from blues and black folktales that the protagonist derives strength and courage to overcome confusion and frustration during his journey; it is in Armstrong's blues that the protagonist sings the song of invisibility—to make his retrospection and finally find his true cultural identity. That is to say, accept themselves, cultivate the appropriate attitude to their race's history and cherish their race's culture.One point necessary to be made clear is that the description of the Invisible Man's oppression is tingled with stages of his transformation and progress on his journey towards true identity with the help of three black characters—Mary, Clifton and Tarp. Then it is not sufficient to talk about the Invisible Man without mentioning the three.Chapter Three reveals the protagonist's quest for his social identity, which is embodied in his traveling on the geographical and social level. Geographically, his journey is from the South to the North, from the black world to the white world. It is also a journey against injustice and racial prejudice. Over the course of the novel, the Invisible Man realizes that the complexity of his inner self is limited not only by white racism but also by black racism. Under such circumstance, how can a Negro like him achieve a concrete social identity? He follows several Negroes' examples successively but on all occasions he fails. Here Ellison does not intend to criticize racial prejudice but to show the common fate of all human beings, for the Negro's absurd position in the hostile white society just represents the irrational and abnormal relationshipbetween human beings.The Invisible Man's journey also takes place on the social level, which means he travels through invisibility to visibility, the recognition of self. Invisibility is this novel's central metaphor. He only achieves visibility by realizing his invisibility after his adventures. What's more, he obtains a concrete social identity, i.e. he becomes a brave, optimistic man who is willing to put off the mask of invisibility and to take the social responsibility.The charm of a great literary work lies in that it can reflect and reveal the common fate of all human beings by delineating a particular individual or group. So Invisible Man is such a work. This novel, in a sense, provides all of us in reality with very useful implication. Ellison, like protagonist, remains optimistic and calm in the face of the human dilemma and tries to make contribution to society.