A Tough Way To Subjectivity Construction

Ralph Ellison is one of the most important black novelists in America in the1950s.His fameis established by his masterpiece Invisible Man.Although the novel has been hotly discussed andinterpreted from various dimensions,there is little criticism is conducted to analyze theprotagonist’s psychological growth.This thesis offers a tentative analysis of Invisible Man fromLacanian perspective,Mirror Stage and Three Orders theories,in order to demonstrate theprotagonist’s formation of Subject.The novel describes the protagonist’s transformance frominnocence to experience under the racist,chaotic American society.The protagonist’s tough wayto Subject is conform to Lacan’s theories.The protagonist is a non-intellective but humble manthrough public opinion in the pre-mirror stage.He was reborned and found his hometown spirit inthe imaginary.Then he was sold by “father” who gained his deeply trust in thesymbolic.Finally,he run into the real by accident and realized that there was nothing real but thefact that he is an invisible man in the society. By considering the Invisible Man’s experience as atough journey to Subject,one can trace Ellison’s deep concern for his people.He not only caresabout their physical suffering but also focus on their inner torture.And he pays more attention tosearching the reasonable ways to live out the cruelty such as constituting one’s Subject ratherthan observing the cruel reality alone.