Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man Essay -- Ralph Ellison Invisible Man Ess

Ralph Ellisons unperceivable firearmA twisted coming-of-age story, Ralph Ellisons unseeable Man follows a tormented, nameless protagonist as he struggles to discover himself in the context of the racially charged 1950s. Ellison uses the question of existence outside business relationship as a vehicle to show that identity cannot exist in a vacuum, but must be shaped in response to others. To sound outside history is to be invisible, ignored by the writers of history For history records the patterns of mens re principal(prenominal)swho fought and who won and who lived to lie about it afterwards (439). Invisibility is the rally trait of the protagonists identity, embodied by the idea of living outside history. Ellison uses the idea of living outside the scope of history as personal manner to illustrate the main characters process of self-awakening, to show that identity is contradictory and to mimic the structural movement of the novel.Ellisons protagonist asks on the daytime of Tod Cliftons death, Where were the historians today? And how would they put it down? (439). With these inquiries he begins to question his own identity and position relative to history. Once the Invisible Man accepts that he too exists outside of history, he steps outside the novel into the prologue and epilogue, a point from which he recognizes, internalizes and verbalizes his invisibility. The Invisible Man never considers that he might live outside of history because he typically identifies with white people who both live inside of history and are the recorders of history. While chauffeuring Mr. Norton, he proclaims, I set myself with the rich man reminiscing on the rear seat (39). In contrast to the inevitable collection of white men and women in smiles, clear of feature... ...hereas in the main text he blames Clifton for plunging outside history. The framing of the novel reveals the contradictory nature of identity because Ellison uses the prologue and epilogue to show tha t the main text could not exist on its own. The protagonists story must be narrated by a wiser version of himself, showing that each identity is dependent on the other. Finally, despite the Invisible Mans initial claim to a solid identity, the epilogue does not portray a character who has completely solidified his identity. When the Invisible Man advises that the mind that has conceived a plan of living must never lose sight of the chaos against which that pattern was conceived (580), he warns that it is foolish to attempt to define such fluid concepts as identity in strict and unyielding terms, thus allowing for the contradictions identity presents in the novel.