An Interpretation Of Invisible Man From The Perspective Of Post-Colonialism

Ralph Ellison (1914-1994) is one of American famous black writers after World WarTwo. Since the late1930s, he has his own unique opinions toward American literature,culture, and identity issues. It is his rich experiences that inspire him to finish the onlylong novel in his entire life---Invisible Man. Once the novel is published in1952, itattracts the attention from the world literature circle and American society, and thus isrewarded as an epoch-making novel and is called as the first epic which reflects themodern blacks’ life situation. Thanks to this novel, Ellison won the National Book Awardin1953. Subsequently, Invisible Man is regarded as the best and the most influentialnovel after the World War Two. Some of the influential book reviews and newspaperssuch as Times, New York Times, Comments on Saturday and so on, all give a highcomment on this novel for his literary quality and judge the novel as the milestone inAmerican black literature. Since then, Ralph Ellison has made his position in the literaryworld.Invisible Man is a novel about the blacks’ life experience. Ellison gets his first-handmaterials from the real life of the blacks and depicts the various tough adventures andpains of a poor southern black young man in American society dominated by the whiteauthorities. In the form of biography novel, the narrator, who is also the protagonist inthe story, relates to us the story about a nameless black man’s series of adventures on theway to seeking self identity. Therefore, this novel is a typical identity crisis one. Thenovel contains rich facts concerned about post-colonialism, which makes the readersrealize that the sufferings of the blacks not only stem from the colonial exploitation ofthe whites in a direct way but only from a new type of exploitation, and we can call it“invisible post-colonial exploitation”.Domestic and foreign scholars have interpreted Invisible Man from many kinds ofperspectives, mostly concentrating on the theory of narrative, symbolism and growth.However, few scholars interpret this novel from the perspective of post-colonialism. Thisthesis aims to interpret this novel in the theory of post-colonialism, which is an entirenew perspective to interpret Invisible Man. With the theory of post-colonialism, thethesis pays more attention to the means of getting rid of racial discrimination, identity as “the Other”, which plays important role in the national integration and harmony intoday’s world.The thesis takes the views of the colonialism as theoretical framework, such asFantz Fanon’s ideas about race and identity, Edward’s theories about Orientalism and theOther, and Bhabha’s opinions about “the Third Space”. On the basis of these theories, thethesis analyzes the experiences of protagonist’s various identities, and further studies thereasons for the various identities.This thesis consists of an introduction, the main body and a conclusion. Its maincontents are as follows:The first part gives a brief introduction of Ralph Ellison’s life, writing experience,his literary achievements. Second, this part introduces the current foreign and homeresearch status of this novel. Finally, this part points out the research characteristic,purpose and practical significance of this thesis.The second part is made up of three chapters:Chapter One introduces the main framework of post-colonialism and the theoreticalsupport of this thesis. This part firstly introduces the origin and development ofpost-colonialism and the definition of post-colonialism, and points out post-colonialismis different from the naked direct exploitation of colonialism, but a new type of invisibleexploitation in cultural penetration, which is called post-colonialism. The former is ratherextensive in the application of literature. Then this part lists the major representatives andtheirs theories about post-colonialism, among of which includes Fanon’s “racism”, Said’s“Orientalism”and “the Other”, and Bhabha’s the “third space” related to this novel.Chapter Two makes analysis on the protagonist’s journey of seeking his identity.Firstly, this part relates a series identities the protagonist has in his life, ranging from acollege student, a worker at the Liberty Paints Plant and a patient at the Factory Hospital,a spokesman for the Brotherhood, to an invisible man living underground. Then this partfurther analyzes the protagonist’s psychological experiences caused by the variousidentities, and reveals the mental journey from innocence, suspicion to the final maturity.Chapter Three discusses the reasons for protagonist’s identity crisis. The reasons forhis invisibility lie in the fact that the whites refuse to see him. Firstly, this partsummarizes that the racism is the main predicament for identity crisis according to Fanon’s view of racism. Secondly, this part finds out that blacks’ identity as “the Other”is another reason for his identity crisis according to Said’s theory of “the Other”,including blacks’ cultural as well as social identity as “the Other”. Finally, this part drawsconclusion that the uncertain identity in the “third space” is an element which leads to theinvisibility of his identity.The last part makes a summary to the preceding analysis, and points out thesignificance of this thesis. This thesis probes the psychological changing experiences byanalyzing protagonist’s various identities. On the basis of post-colonialism, this thesisespecially centers on the mental experiences in the process of his seeking identity,ranging from innocence, suspicion to the final awakening. The protagonist eventuallyrealizes his real identity in the “third space”, which neither belongs to white-dominatedAmerica nor belongs to traditional black Africa, but a true “invisible man”. Comparedwith other novels with black themes, this novel is more influential and deeper than otherblack novels.