The Invisible Man’s Quest for Identity

The Invisible Man’s Quest for Identity

Table of Contents

1. Introduction...................................................................................................................3

2. The Different Stages in the Search for Identity.............................................................4

2. 1 Disillusionment from the Philosophy of Booker T. Washington...............................4

2. 2 Development of Racial Pride.....................................................................................5

2. 3 The Failure of the Communist Theory.......................................................................6

2. 4 The Radical Ideology of Black Nationalism..............................................................7

2. 5 Possibility by the Denial of One’s Identity: Rineheartism.........................................8

2. 6 The Ultimate Acceptance of Invisibility....................................................................9

3. Conclusion..................................................................................................................10

4. List of Works Cited.....................................................................................................11

1. Introduction

With the publication of his novel Invisible Man in 1952 Ralph Ellison certainly had his masterpiece. It tells the story of a young African American in search for his own identity by struggling with various life experiences.

For this reason it is indisputable that Invisible Man is - principally - a bildungsroman as the novel “follows the development of the hero [...] through a troubled quest for identity” (Baldick: 24). And since the protagonist of the story also functions as the narrator one can even go further and narrow it down to the genre of a künstlerroman (cf. Baldick: 24).

However did the author not only...