The Metaphor Of Culture

African American writer Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man always comes to the front when one looks through the twentieth century American literature and the world literature. It is hailed as one of the most influential American novels published after World War II. This novel brought Ralph Ellison plenty of honors and awards which established his firm position both in the American and the world literature. It has been 55 years since the publication of the novel in 1952, but its artistic techniques and cultural implications are still astonishing today.Deeply influenced by jazz since his childhood, Ellison knew much about jazz and dreamed of becoming a jazz musician. Once he said,"Are thou troubled? Music will ennoble thee."Jazz inspired him in writing and led him to a noble road. With his deep understanding and study on jazz, his novel Invisible Man is inevitably imbued with jazz flavor, so that it is considered as a piece of work improvised by a jazz musician.The previous comments on Invisible Man mainly focused on its theme, its cultural significance and artistic techniques. Although some critics have noticed the profound influence of jazz, the indigenous American music, on Ellison, and have somewhat touched upon the jazz music between the lines of the novel. Yet few have made in-depth analysis on the function and role of jazz in the novel. Connecting literature with music,this thesis intends to study the narrative function of jazz, the role of jazz in constructing the meaning and deepening the theme of the novel. Thus,a unique perspective is adopted to have a new and deeper understanding and interpretation of the novel Invisible Man.This thesis consists of six parts. Chapter 1 is an introduction, including literature review, the purpose and significance of the study as well as layout of the thesis. Chapter II tracks down the deep relationship of Ellison and jazz, and the influence of jazz on his literary career. Chapter III discusses the narrative function of jazz in the novel. There is deep analysis of the jazz-like structure and narrative mode of the novel. Then this part explores how Ellison borrowed ways of expression from jazz performance, such as improvisation, call-and-response, riffing, etc, to structure the novel and express his ideas. Chapter IV investigates the meaning-construction role of jazz in Invisible Man. Environments and characters with jazz flavor and the function of jazz music in critical points are studied. Chapter V explores the role of jazz in deepening the theme of the novel, analyzing the function of Armstrong's blues"(What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue"as theme song of the novel and the jazz-like liberal spirit in the protagonist's quest of self. The last chapter is the conclusion.Based on the above analysis and careful reading of the novel, the thesis holds the idea that in the novel Invisible Man, Ellison successfully transformed the literary text of words into somewhat"visual and audible"form of art. He endowed the novel with a jazz-like form, and creatively borrowed ways of expression from jazz performance to structure the novel, construct the meaning, develop the plots and deepen the theme. Like incidental music, jazz makes the words vivid and colorful, which helps to romance the atmosphere and arouse the readers'inner resonance. Jazz flavor of the novel gives prominence to the black culture and presents the blacks'grim living conditions in a unique way. Without the adoption of jazz—a music form with profound cultural metaphor, the significance and charm of Invisible Man would be greatly abated.