Term Paper: Invisible Man

Finding Yourself: A Research Paper about Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man gives a broad assortment of readers a novel to appreciate in varied spectrums of life to form a classic novel intertwining racial and self-discovery aspects. John T Gillespie and Corinne J. Naden note that “its complexity did not necessarily make it an easy read” (“Overview”). In many ways, Ellison displays a parallel between himself and the protagonist of Invisible Man. The shared knowledge of both men raised in a frontier town and overcoming racism during portions of their lives is significant enough to compare the two. Throughout the novel, Ellison manages to preserve the narrator as an “unknown” person. Limiting the protagonist to no name is a technique established so the reader can feel a sense of fitting into the invisible man’s “shoes”. This not only allows a sense of connection felt between the main character and reader, but Ellison is praised in the sense of writing about topics that multiple audiences can relate. But who is Ellison intending the audience to be? Several critics believe Invisible Man is a race specific novel, while others disagree arguing Ellison intended to effect a multitude of ethnicities and backgrounds while conveying a universal message. “The biggest controversy over the book has always had to do with whether or not it was intended for a universal audience. Bellow praised Ellison for not having ‘adopted a minority tone. If he had done so, he would have failed to establish a true middle-of-consciousness for everyone’” (“Overview”). Gillespie and Naden are specifically admiring how composed Ellison managed to maintain Invisible Man. Preserving a common ground to relate without being race specific is nothing but a bonus for the African-American author. Critics claim “there is no reason why a novel ‘about a Negro background, about Negro characters, could not be effective as literature and in its effectiveness transcend its immediate...