A Tough Journey To Subject

Ralph Ellison (1914-1994) is one of the most important black novelists in America after World War II. His fame is established by his masterpiece Invisible Man (1952). Upon its publication, Invisible Man was criticized by many black critics for its lack of anti-racism spirit, and Ellison himself thus also became controversial. During the following more than half a century, the novel has still been hotly discussed and interpreted from various dimensions. Though it describes the protagonist's transformance from"innocence to experience", ending with his achieving"a victory of perspective"with self-knowledge, little criticism is conducted specifically to analyze his psychological growth. This thesis offers a tentative analysis of Invisible Man from Lacanian psychoanalytical perspective, concluding that the protagonist's experience, in Lacanian sense, is a tough journey to Subject, and the predicaments are mainly due to the racist, chaotic and alienated nature of the American society. Therefore, the Lacanian reading of the novel reveals Ellison's strong sympathy towards the inner torture of his people and his thematic concern of anti-racism as well.Apart from Introduction and Conclusion, this thesis consists of three chapters.Introduction presents a brief account of Ralph Ellison's life experience and his Invisible Man; the critical response to Invisible Man; a concise summary of Lacan's Psychoanalytical Theory; and the significance of a Lacanian reading of the novel.Chapter One mainly discloses that due to racism the Invisible Man is trapped in the Real Order at the beginning of the novel. According to Lacan, human beings are born prematurely and thus they can not distinguish themselves from others at their earliest stage which is defined as the Real Order. To put it simply, no sense of self or subjectivity can be felt at this order. In the novel, although the Invisible Man is already a well-educated adolescent, his psychology still stays at the infantile level. Born in the racist American South, the Invisible Man grows up with the internalized servility and thus can never form a sense of self. He judges everything by following the white authorities as well as their black henchmen. In Lacanian sense, he is deprived of the Ego-forming Mirror Stage at birth and caught in the realm of Real. It is not until his involuntary"rebirth"later in the hospital that he acquires the chance to enter into the Mirror Stage and the Imaginary as well.Chapter Two describes the Invisible Man's encounter of negation in the Imaginary Order. After"rebirth", he is looked after by mother-like Mary Rambo and lives in Harlem. On the one hand, influenced by Mary and the familiar black culture of Harlem, the Invisible Man enters his belated Mirror Stage at last and identifies his image as a southern black; on the other hand, due to the revenge mentality inherited from his past disastrous experience caused by racism, his Ideal-ego is mixed with individualistic freedom and irresponsibility. According to Lacan, the infant's ideal image is to be confirmed by the other person, usually its mother. However, in the novel, the mother figures such as Mary suffer a lot in the racist society, therefore, they expect the Invisible Man to do something responsible for his race and deny his Ideal-ego as an individualistic black.Chapter Three analyzes the complicated experience of the Invisible Man's subjectification in the Symbolic Order. Lacan holds that the Symbolic is a realm of Law which is prescribed and operated in"the Name-of-the-Father". It is in the Symbolic that a person finally becomes a Subject. When the"Ideal-ego"is denied, the Invisible Man realizes the desire of the mother figures or his race in a broad sense for the improvement of the blacks and thus turns to fulfill it. At this moment, the Brotherhood, a political organization claiming racial equality and scientific objectivity, appears. Its powerful financial strength and charming political propaganda draw the Invisible Man to believe that only the organization can satisfy mother's desire. Therefore, he regards it as the"Father"and intends to constitute his Subject as a visible black through identification with the"Ego-ideal"within the organization. However, later Brotherhood reveals its true nature of racism and dictatorship. As a result, the Invisible Man's journey is complicated again for his having formed a false Subject. Finally, with the suicidal death of Clifton, the betrayal of Brother Jack, and the experience of being misrecognized as"multi-faceted"Rinehart, he gets to see the hypocritical, chaotic and racist nature of the reality and realizes that he is an invisible Subject as a stereotyped black to everybody he meets.Furthermore, this chapter also demonstrates that the formation of Subject is of great importance for the Invisible Man. In Lacan's opinion, once a child enters language and accepts the rules and dictates of society, it becomes a Subject and able to deal with others. In other words, the formation of the Subject in the Symbolic marks one's maturity. Realizing his invisibility at last, the Invisible Man is no longer the dependent and ignorant man he used to be. He acquires maturity and freedom in his spirit. Now he gets a perception of"looking through [himself]". Through his own eyes, he triumphs over his blindness the society imposes on him and sees the things which he does not notice before. First, he recognizes the humanity of other people. Moreover, he realizes the value of the black masses. Finally, he sees the multiplicity and the possibility of the world. As a result, he makes up his decision to end his"hibernation"to play a socially responsible role.Conclusion summarizes the protagonist's whole tough journey to Subject and also points out Ellison's thematic concern of anti-racism. The Lacanian reading of the novel proves the injustice of calling Ellison as"Judas"of his people as some critics do. By considering the Invisible Man's experience as a difficult journey to Subject, one can trace Ellison's deep concern for his people: he not only cares about their physical suffering but also focuses on their inner torture; he not only observes the cruel reality but also searches the reasonable ways to live out the cruelty, among which"to constitute one's Subject"is one way.