Free Essays on Invisible Man: Plot/Character Analysis/Themes :: Invisible Man Essays

Invisible Man Short Plot/ disposition Analysis/Themes   Invisible Man, written in 1952 by Ralph Ellison, documents a late black mans struggle to find identity in an inequitable and artful ships company. During the course of this struggle, he learns many valuable lessons, both about society and himself, through his experiences.   The story begins with the narrator recounting his memories of his grandfather. The nigh remarkable, and eventually the most haunting, of these is his memory of his grandfathers last words in which he claims to have been a traitor to his own people and urges his son to overcome em with yeses, undermine em with grins, check over em to death and destruction, let em swoller you till they vomit or bust replete(p) open. These words remain imprinted in the narrators mind throughout the book, although he neer fully understands their meaning. His grandfathers words eventually serve as catalyst for his incidental disillusionments, the first of which o ccurs directly after he graduates from high school.   At this time, the narrator is invited to give a speech at a gathering of the towns guide white citizens. The speech he is planning to give expresses the view that humility is the essence of progress. Subconsciously, the words of his grandfather prevent him from truly believing the dissertation of his own speech, but he gives it anyway. Instead of being shown respect for his work, however, he is humiliated by being made to fight blind-folded against other preteen black men, and then being shocked by an electrified rug. He pretends non to be angered by these events, yet his true feelings escape him for a moment when, while he is reading his speech, he accidentally says kindly equality, instead of Social responsibility. After he finishes his speech, he is awarded a overbold briefcase. Inside the briefcase is a scholarship to the state Negro College. That night he has a dream in which his grandfather tells him to open the b riefcase and read what is in the envelope. He finds that it says To Whom It May Concern, Keep This Nigger-Boy Running. Unfortunately, he is still too disillusion to grasp the meaning of his grandfathers warnings.   During his Junior year at college, the narrator drives for Mr. Norton, wizard of the college founders that is visiting the campus. During the drive, Mr. Norton tells the narrator that he is his destiny.