The Functions Of Blues In Invisible Man

Blues is a music form, which originated from the south of America in 1860s. African Americans created it to express their melancholy, anger and yearnings for love. As a typical feature of African American culture, blues is one of the original basis and cultural sources in studying the text of African American literature. Black writer Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is one of the most influential American novels since World War II. And Ellison's application of blues in its thematic representation, characterization and narration contributes to his prominent status in American literary history.This thesis is to explore how Ellison employs the forms and performing techniques of blues to represent its varied themes, delineate its vivid characters and form a unique style in narration. In Chapter 1, we will introduce the musical definition of blues and its literary significance with the support of Baker's Blues-Vernacular Theory. In Chapter 2, our focus will be put on the role of blues in representing the complex themes of the novel. To Ellison, the blues or Blues Mood is a symbolic expression of the human condition. The meaning of blues is identical with the meaning of man's existence, and in the end, is the meaning of his novel, Invisible Man. Hence, the blues has performed a very useful function in exposing the central themes of the novel. The next chapter deals with the functions of blues in characterization. Ellison knows far too touch about the intimate relationship between art and life to attempt to confine his artistic creation to any narrow category. In order to make his characters lifelike, he has applied many devices in his characterization, such as the description of their appearance, actions and languages, which, according to our research, are closely related with blues music. The last chapter goes further to the study of the function of blues in narration. The blues has fulfilled a unique function in shaping the narrative structure, forming narrative devices and selecting lingual formations.At last it is concluded that through a perfect combination of black music and novelistic arts in Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison has succeeded in endowing strong rhythm, history dimension and strong force to his novel without the loss of aesthetic beauty of its language.