David Lobato

Mr. Canek

Political Studies

22 February 2019

Invisible Man

In the novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the author shows how obstacles are given to

those who are seen to be invisible. Getting into the mind of Ellison,​ the meaning of being

invisible is to not be acknowledged for what you want people to see you as, in today’s society

people that are invisible fall in the category of people who don’t have a voice such as minorities.

No one really cares about what they say, and not only them but such as undocumented

immigrants. They've had a hard time trying to be accepted by not only communities but most of

the country. There have been song composers such as a hip-hop artist named Logic, having a

whole album addressing race and the discrimination people face through because of who they

are. In the novel the Invisible Man, many examples of invisibility are given such as the invisible

man having the feeling that people don’t see him for who he is.

In the novel, The way Ellison describes how the invisible man feels is really detailed. The

invisible man says something really straight forward talking about how he feels invisible, ​“I am

invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me… it is though I have been

surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my

surroundings…, everything and anything except me” (Ellison 3). ​ As you can see Ellison gave

really good content talking about how the invisible man felt. He explained how he felt that no

one really took notice of him. How they acknowledged everything but him. The invisible man

knows he can be seen, but to be taken acknowledge from is as if he didn’t belong. The invisible
man is an African-American, but why do they not take notice of him? Is it his race, is it because

he does not seem important. If someone of class they would be noticed. This is more like they

refuse to see him because of his race because they make it seems as if his race doesn’t matter.

When you talk about the people in today’s society and wonder who are the people that

are invisible most people think of those who don’t have a voice. But who exactly are those

people? And if you really think about it, it's those who live in the streets, those who don’t really

know the place. Referring to the homeless and to the immigrants that come to this country for a

better place. Looking at the situation the homeless are in people don’t really take notice of them.

Some are in the streets for the use of drugs. They life may have fallen apart. Some have lost it all

because they couldn’t afford to pay rent, and some are war heroes that fought for this country.

Unlike our president Donald Trump, he ignores them because he believes that they are here to

destroy the country, take American jobs away, or simply to traffic their drug here. The famous

phrase, “ ​They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume,

are good people” (D. Trump, personal communication, 2015).​ Immigrants, they have come to

this country or have tried to cross that border to this country for a better life. Running away from

the terror that has spread throughout their country. No one really takes them seriously, the

immigrants that have stayed at the other side of the U.S. border try to show and tell what they are

running from. Do they really have a word? Most would say they don’t. Most would agree with

what our president says and would continue to see these people as invisible people and not see

the real reason why they try to cross the border.

For those who are visible, what makes them any different from those who are invisible?

As you can see there are big differences. There are people who have made a name for themselves
and showed that the discrimination to those like immigrants is a thing humans can’t do to one

another. And since most people that are invisible are immigrants, they get one of the most hate in

the U.S. A hip-hop artist, Sir Robert Bryson Hall II that goes by the name of logic. Had a

released song, some of the lyrics say, ​“That’s the road I’ve been down, I know how it go down I

know how it go now, what’s up I feel like I don’t belong I feel like my life is wrong I feel like I

don’t know what’s up” (Logic, Black Spiderman, Everybody, May 5, 2017, #12).​ So the lyrics

state that he feels like he doesn’t belong and if you were to see where he comes from. You would

see that he is not respected in hip-hop and they don’t accept him in hip-hop. Why is that? It’s

simply because he is not of a certain race. Most of the time being white does not mean you are

accepted. The reason why they don’t accept him in hip-hop is that he supposedly is not black.

Although he is biracial. But people simply don’t accept in the music industry because he looks

more white than black.

No conclusion

No references

Written Communication
Domain Grade (E, D, P, A) Comments

Development D/P Your development and organization are a little

rocky only because your thesis doesn’t
necessarily outline what you are going to
discuss in the paper. While it is good that you
make time throughout the paper to address all
the prompt questions, it would have helped
guide the reader if you had previewed all this in
the thesis.
Organization D/P

Language Conventions D/P Some sentences need some work with grammar
and syntax

Knowledge & Thinking

Domain Grade (E, D, P, A) Comments

Argument/Thesis D/P You have a decent thesis started. However, you

only have one of your claim within your thesis,
even though you do address all three prompt
questions throughout your CRA. So, this was a
little confusing.

Claims/Supporting Ideas D/P Stronger topic sentence/ transitions needed

Counterclaims (optional)

Evidence D/P Good evidence- could have been more relevant

Analysis of Evidence D/P You have some strong analysis started. To help
improve what you have and structure it a little
more, I would refer to the sentence frames and
handout we gave everyone in class.