Invisible Civil Rights,
Political Power and Higher Education:
An Invisible Man Explication
By Stephen E. Jordan, II
"I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe;
nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone,
fiber and liquids--and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible--understand,
simply because people refuse to see me."
The previous passage is taken from the prologue of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
Published in 1952, at the peak of the Cold War and while segregation and social upheaval were
issues for African Americans, Invisible Man allows us to take a journey along a racially
divided road, through a city, college and country. This novel allows us to see the effects
of such a racially divided society, the confusion rampant among all African Americans during
this time, and the hidden truths of the society at large.
The protagonist in Ellison's Invisible Man has been studied for decades.
Still, to many, he's just as invisible as he was when the text was first published. Many
researchers have failed to analyze the text in its entirety by prescribing a valid
methodology to the events that have taken place, not only in the novel, but in the lives
of African Americans. In Robert O'Meally's History and Memory in African American
Culture, Ellison shows us that such close-up details of the American setting are
often too troubling and challenging for Americans to face directly. With that in mind,
for the attempt to supply an up-to-date form of criticism by using past events as a
reference, the use of New Historicism criticism has been applied to the text of
Invisible Man.
As a brief summary, the narrator in Invisible Man tells us of his many experiences,
which, in turn, should allow him to explore himself and society, both, mentally and
physically. This journey is a common theme in literature. Many authors allow their
characters to go on a journey of some sort, whether it be an internal or an external
search. Ralph Ellison uses the internal search as a technique in the Invisible Man.
It seems as though the narrator has some type of discovery in every chapter of the novel,
which allows us to learn more of the narrator's personality. The novel begins with
a "Prologue" and ends with the "Epilogue." With these two sections of the novel, we
are able to see the invisible man's reflections on his experiences.
In the prologue and the epilogue we have a man who does indeed have an
identity--invisibility. He tells us of his world, his feelings and his thoughts.
In the prologue, Ellison tells us "the end is in the beginning." The last words of
the novel before the epilogue are "The end was in the beginning." This is true. As
the narrator tells us of his experiences, the beginning of his story parallels the
end; he begins and ends looking for himself, not doing anything about his situation.
In the epilogue, the narrator tells us that as an invisible man he is also a
responsible person--which is a different view from that in the prologue where he
refers to himself as irresponsible.
The invisible man is a naive young man. He does not understand that there are
evil people in the world. Every time something occurs in his life it appears to be
a rude awakening. The narrator doesn't grow because he never learns from all of his
experiences. The narrator doesn't understand that if he has been slapped on the side of
the face, he shouldn't turn his face or he is likely to have the other side slapped as
well. The narrator always ends up as everybody's fool. To coincide with the narrator's
invisibility, this African American does not even have a name. Since he does not have a name
no one can take him seriously--the characters or the readers.
Now that there is familiarity with Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, next is a brief
definition of the methodology used to analyze the text. According to Ross Murfin's The
New Historicism, New Historicism is one of the newest forms of literary criticisms
available in contemporary theory. It is very difficult to find a clear definition
of new historicism. The definition is said to be somewhat fuzzy, like a partially
developed photograph image.
In his essay "Toward a New History in Literary Study"
published in 1984, Herbert Lindenberger writes: "It comes as something of a surprise
to find that history is making a powerful comeback. New historicism is an approach to
writings that pays attention to historical events. According to new historicism we
cannot separate writing and history because they are always mixed together anyway."
Michel Foucault in his writings brought together incidents and phenomena from areas
of inquiry and of life that we normally regard as unconnected. He inspired new
historicism to redefine the boundaries of historical inquiry. According to Foucault,
no historical event has a single cause; rather, it is intricately connected with a vast
web of economic, social and political factors and there is a fine line that
separates "make-believe" from "real life." Though both are separate in their
existence, a novel and real life still are the similar aspects when dealing
with criticisms. A novel captures true incidents in history, whether intentional
or unintentional, blatant or symbolic.
New historicism allows us to take a look at events in history in relation to the
events which take place in a particular writing.
One of the major problems that we find in history is a lack of social equality. We see
that many of the accomplishments or privileges of African Americans have come about because
of a struggle of some sort. While his college life borrows from the history and surroundings
of Tuskegee, the intellectual promise of the Invisible Man suits him for membership in what
DuBois referred to as the "Talented Tenth"--the professionally educated segment of the black
population that would lead the way toward equality.
In The Future of the Race written by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Cornel West, they
reflect on DuBois' "Talented Tenth" theory. "The Negro race," it began, "like all
races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men."
Ellison's protagonist is seen as such a character who is among the educated black
population that should lead the way toward equality. Still, we discover, the
Invisible Man does not lead the black population toward equality. Instead, he
wallows in his own self-pity and accepts his invisibility as we discover in the
epilogue.
In W.E.B. DuBois' The Souls of Black Folk, Booker T. Washington was one such African
American who outwardly expressed his feelings about being submissive.
Ironically, Washington, as an African American, represents the old-school
attitude of adjustment and submission. Washington expressed that blacks should
give up three things:
1. Political power.
2. Insistence on civil rights.
3. Higher education of Black youth.
These three rights Washington suggested blacks should give up are noticed in the
protagonist in Invisible Man. DuBois mentions that African Americans must be opposed
to the one-sided views of Washington that has kept African Americans suppressed for
so many years.
Many others have expressed their opinions about the suppression of African Americans,
particularly in a college setting. In 1954, the Supreme Court decided in Brown v. Board
of Education that segregation by race was unconstitutional. This trial occurred two years
after Invisible Man was written. An excerpt from the Supreme Court Brief states
that "as minority group children learn the inferior status to which they are
assigned --as they observe the fact that they are almost always segregated and
kept apart from others who are treated with more respect by the society as a
whole--they often react with feelings of inferiority and a sense of personal
humiliation. Many of them become confused about their own personal worth."
This was one of the first instances where black America became "visible" to
white America.
The invisible man receives his scholarship and briefcase from his local Board of
Education. Perhaps this was merely a coincidence which paralleled that of the Supreme
Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Invisible Man shows us a naive young
man who is the victim of segregation. Segregation is the cause of the narrator's
invisibility. This invisibility is equivalent to his lack of self-worth.
We learn from Invisible Man that the narrator does not know who to trust anymore.
It seems as though everyone is his enemy, both, blacks and whites. The whites do
not accept him, simply because he's black, while the blacks do not associate with
him because they view him as being converted into an Uncle Tom or Sambo (with his
briefcase and scholarship from the Board of Education). Here, we notice that there
is no one for the Invisible Man to trust. He is left alone.
In his essays, Ellison often makes the point that Black American identity is too
often reduced to a simplistic idea of scene; or it is flatly explained merely in
terms of place, as if the lines and shadows of one's surroundings were everything.
"I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the
bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been
surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see
only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination--indeed, everything
and anything except me."
So while we read Invisible Man, invisible histories also unfold. We discover
that life is filled with contradictions, surprises, chaos, and changes of space.
Ellison gives us a chance to learn from the past so that we can correct our mistakes
and be prepared for the future.
------
Works Cited
Blight, David. "W.E.B. DuBois and the Struggle for American Historical Memory." History and Memory in African American Culture. Ed. Genevieve Fabre. Oxford University Press: New York. 1994. 45-71.
Dixon, Melvin. "The Black Writer's Use of Memory." History and Memory in African American Culture. Ed. Genevieve Fabre. Oxford University Press: New York. 1994. 18-27.
Du Bois, W.E.B., "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others." The Souls of Black Folk. Penguin: New York. 1989. 36-50.
Hughes, Langston. "Cowards from the Colleges." Crisis. (1934). Rpt. in Eric Sundquist, ed. Cultural Contrast for Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. St. Martin's Press: NY. 1995. 56-65.
Murfin, Ross. "The New Historicism and The Awakening."(1993). Rpt. in Nancy A. Walker, ed. The Awakening. By Kate Chopin. Boston: Bedford Books, 1993. 190-198.
Nora, Pierra. "Between Memory and History: Les Lieux De Memoire."History and Memory in African American Culture. Ed. Genevieve Fabre. Oxford University Press: New York. 1994. 284-300.
O'Meally, Robert. "On Burke and the Vernacular: Ralph Ellison's Boomerang of History." History and Memory in African American Culture. Ed. Genevieve Fabre. Oxford University Press: New York. 1994. 244-258.
Supreme Court Brief. "Brown v. Board Education: The Effects of Segregation." 1954. Cultural Contrast for Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. St. Martin's Press: NY. 1995. 72-77.
Stephen E. Jordan, II is Editor/Publisher of OutStretch Publications;
Financial Editor in Manhattan; and Poet. Article is available for reprint. Please notify
the author. Copyright © 2001. www.OutStretch.net, Editor@OutStretch.net |
