Title: Invisible Man

Author: Ralph Ellison

Date, Place of Publication: 1952, Harlem
Bio Notes: Born in Oklahoma City, OK on March 1, 1914
Studied music in NY (jazz) before becoming a writer
Became disillusioned with Communism
Author attended the Tuskegee Institute and is a young black man
Setting: post-Antebellum/Jim Crow South, 1930
University is mock-version of Tuskegee
Harlem, NY in 1930s
Major center of black culture
Notes on Period/Place of Publication: during era of Marxism
Anti-communism reaching intense levels
Several court cases regarding Separate but equal taken during this time
Later 1940s and 1950s was time of immense discrimination against blacks,
especially Deep South
Segregation was fully spread amount many parts of America when IM was
published and many of its scenes were considere shocking at the time
Plot Summary:
-unnamed narrator speaks, telling his reader that he is an invisible man., and explains that he
is invisible simply because others refuse to see him.
-flashes back to his naive youth: is invited to give his high school graduation speech in front of
a group of prominent white local leaders, and is asked to join a humiliating boxing match, a
battle royal
-forced to grab for their payment on an electrified carpet- gives his speech while swallowing
blood- local leaders reward w/ briefcase and scholarship to the states black college.
-the narrator given the honor of chauffeuring for one of the schools trustees, a northern white
man named Mr. Norton- takes Mr. Norton into an unfamiliar area near the campus, gets out to
talk to a local sharecropper named Jim Trueblood: brought disgrace upon himself by
impregnating his daughter, and he recounts the incident to Mr. Norton in a long, dreamlike
story (horrified and titillated)-takes him to the Golden Day, a black bar and whorehouse,
occupied by a group of mental patients, the narrator tries to carry out a drink forced to bring
Mr. Norton into the bar, where pandemonium breaks loose- ex-doctor helps Mr. Norton
recover, but insults Mr. Norton with his boldness.
-Mr. Norton returns to campus and speaks with Dr. Bledsoe, the president of the black
college(furious with IM)-In chapel, the narrator listens to a sermon preached by the Reverend
Barbee, who praises the Founder of the black college- Dr. Bledsoe reprimands the narrator,
deciding to exile him to New York City where the narrator will work through the summer to
earn his next years tuition.
-runs into the ex-doctor again, who gives the narrator some life advice that the narrator does
not understand- arrives in New York, job hunt proves unsuccessful, as Dr. Bledsoes letters do
little good- meets young Emerson, and he lets the narrator read Dr. Bledsoes letter, which he
discovers were not meant to help him at all, but instead to give him a sense of false hope-

Emerson tells him of a potential job at the factory of Liberty Paints.

- given a job assisting Lucius Brockway, an old black man who controls the factorys boiler
room and basement- Lucius is suspicious, Brockway believes that he is collaborating with the
union and attacks him- the narrator bests the old Brockway in a fight, but Brockway gets the
last laugh by causing an explosion in the basement, severely wounding the narrator- the
narrator is taken to the factorys hospital, where he is strapped into a glass and metal box,
factors doctors treat the narrator with severe electric shocks, and the narrator soon forgets his
own name, his sense of identity is only rekindled through his anger at the doctors racist
behavior
-returns to Harlem, he nearly collapses from weakness, kind woman Mary Rambo takes the
narrator in- begins practicing his speech making abilities, stumbles across an elderly black
couple that is being evicted from their apartment and uses his rhetorical skill to rouse the
crowd watching the dispossession and causes a public disturbance- Brother Jack tells the
narrator that he wishes to offer him a job making speeches for his organization, the
Brotherhood (initially skeptical and turns him down, but later accepts the offer)
- taken to the Brotherhoods headquarters, new name and must move away from Mary- gives a
rousing speech to a crowded arena, he is embraced as a hero, although some of the
Brotherhood leaders disagree with the speech- sent to a man named Brother Hambro to be
indoctrinated into the theory of the Brotherhood- four months later, meets Brother Jack, who
says he will appointed chief spokesperson of the Brotherhoods Harlem District
-meets Tod Clifton, an intelligent and skillful member of the Brotherhood. Clifton and the
narrator soon find themselves fighting against Ras the Exhorter, a black nationalist who
believes that blacks should not cooperate with whites- receives an anonymous note telling him
that he is rising too quickly- Brotherhood member named Wrestrum accuses the narrator of
using the Brotherhood for his own personal gain, suspends the narrator until the charges are
cleared, and reassigns him to lecture downtown on the Woman Question.Downtown- meets a
woman who convinces him to come back to her apartment, sleep together, and the narrator
becomes afraid that will be discovered.
-committee informs him that Tod Clifton has gone missing, reassigned to Harlem, he discovers
that things have changed, and that the Brotherhood has lost much of its previous popularitydiscovers Clifton on the street, selling Sambo dolls- before can understand Cliftons betrayal,
Clifton is shot dead by a police officer for resisting arrest, narrator organizes a public funeral
for Clifton- The funeral is a success, and the people of Harlem are energized by the narrators
speech, he is chastised for not following their orders-confronts Brother Jack, whose glass eye
pops out of its socket.
-Leaving the committee is nearly beat up by Ras the Exhorters men. Sensing his new
unpopularity in Harlem, the narrator buys a pair of dark-lensed glasses- several people mistake
the narrator for a man named Rinehart, who is apparently a gambler, pimp, and preacher- goes
to see Brother Hambro for an explanation of the Brotherhoods dictates and he tells the
narrator that Harlem must be sacrificed for the best interests of the entire Brotherhood, an
answer the narrator finds deeply unsatisfying.
-disillusioned by Hambros words, remembers his grandfathers advice to undermine white
power through cooperation, plans to sabotage the Brotherhood by telling the committee
whatever it wants to hear, regardless of the reality, plans to infiltrate the partys hierarchy by
sleeping with the wife of a high-ranking member of the Brotherhood- meets Sybil, knows
nothing, to use to play out her fantasy of being raped by a black man- narrator gets a call that a

riot is going on in Harlem.

- rushes uptown to find that Harlem is in chaos and falls in with a group of looters, they
escalate their violence, burning down their own tenement building to protest the poor living
conditions- runs into Ras the Exhorter again, now dressed as an Abyssinian chieftain sending
his men to try to hang the narrator- barely escapes from Ras men, only to meet three white
men who ask him what he has in his briefcase- turns to run, he falls into a manhole and the
white men seal the narrator underground, where the narrator is forced to burn his past
possessions to see in the dark.
-returns to the present, remarking that he has remained underground since that time-reflects on
history and the words of his grandfather, and says that his mind wont let him rest- ends and
says that he feels ready to end his hibernation and emerge above ground.
MOWAAW:
Lack of identity leads to false interactions and overall self-destruction.
Race has many defintions and legacies.
Those that seek power serve only their interest.
In order to reach independence, you must become self-sufficient. (Individuality)
In order to attain power, truth is often shroded in deception and lies.
Opening Sentence for Essay:
Ralph Elllisons Invisible Man presents a man lost in the complexities of race and
identity in 1930s Harlem, depicting the amost surrealist nature of this mans invisibility.
Ralph Ellisons novel, Invisible Man, follows a nameless protagonist to prove
lack of identity leads to false interactions and overall self-destruction.
In Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man, a Southern-born black narrator follows the
expectations of surrounding social groups in order to find his own understanding of
identity.
Style/Characteristic of the work:
Long and flowy sentences with complex thought
Surrealism
Black is White motif
Lobotomy sequence
Switches between real and surreal
Liberty Paints - Keep America pure with Liberty
Paints assimilation of blacks through conforming to whiteness
Symbolism and metaphor rampant especially around concept of invisibility

Characters

IM: narrator and disconnected voice; forceful speaker

Mr. Bledsoe
Mr. Norton
Brother Jack

 Mary
Ras the Exhorter
Clifton
Rinehart
Opening Scene, Significance: I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who
haunted Edgar Allan Poe
Raises a question and that he is a lost part of society
Speaker is direct; establishes time that narrator is speaking of the past
Creates sense of discomfort within reader because protagonist is crazy and is
about to read on about why he is crazy
Closing Scene, Significance: And now I realized that I couldnt return to Marys or to any part
of my old life.
Narrator returns to the underground with no place to go sense
of reclusion in order to realize his own identity
Realizes the world has failed him and he until he or the situation above ground
changes
Book comes full circle
Symbols:
Brief case: literal baggage but become vessel of events to occupy
Collects things that culminate what has identified his identiy but
burns it at the end of the novel to symbolize a new self
Coin bank: exaggerated black figure excited to eat coins that white man gives him
Blindness - present in Barbee and glass eye of Brother Jack
Blindess to racial rights/integrity as well as power
Sambo doll: grotesque play on AAs dancing
Clifton sold doll but used to protect Brotherhood
Memborable Quotes:
The end was in the beginning pg 571
Thats my life, telling white folk how to think about the thing I know about
-Bledsoe (pg 142)