Theme:
There is one apparent theme that becomes visual when the novel is close to its end and the narrator reflects upon his life. The theme is that one has to follow one’s own path or at least not blindly follow hopeful ambition without skepticism. When the narrator drove Mr. Norton around and the night ended in a disaster, he was not thinking for himself of the possible consequences that could and did occur. Then later in the plot the narrator follows the brotherhoods “scientific” methods and emerged himself in the social politics of New York’s minorities. In my opinion he blindly followed the cultish brotherhood and again ended up paying the price for it. As far as the central theme goes the meat and potatoes was in the passage where the narrator was in the coal cellar contemplating whether or not his decisions had meaning and revealed that he had only the intentions of bettering life in the community. Everything now laid in rest and the narrator unaware of his new social surroundings thought only to himself that the brotherhood was only a waste of time because the facts they were receiving were false and that there was no truth or closure. His intentions were positive, but hitting on the central theme, there was no merit or truly great and decisive action that made people stand up and believe in the cause. The narrator saw the people demand a revolution and the brotherhood stood against it, which was the turning point and when the truth hit the narrator like a ton of bricks. The visions of the narrator are what make up his identity, and self identity and acceptance are the keys to life.
Style:
To put it simply Ralph Ellison portrays the life trials of the narrator encounters. The narrator has no identity or not really any family memories pointed at, so the reader of the novel will go on to search for more. While the identity or physical description of the narrator is relatively unknown, the beliefs and the ideology of the narrator is the constant focus of Ellison. Ellison puts all the emphasis on how each individual thinks and their consequent actions from their belief systems. Ellison guides the narrator through very complex situations and the narrator is shown to be a rational thinker and somewhat of a philosopher. Always contradicting and questioning every move he makes and how others will react to his carefully constructed plans, while all the while going back to the motif of why his grandfather on his death bed told him to agree them (the white man) to death and destruction. The way the story is told as though one was in a nice quiet room with a fire place going and two comfy chairs were facing each other and in one chair was the narrator while in the other was one’s self. The narrator reflects back upon past events that shaped his life and gives a little closure on how he intends on going on. The story was brilliantly told in first person with an occasional page or two in complete italics representing a dream or a wondering thought. While the point of view was strictly that of the narrator, Ellison didn’t cram one constant belief down the reader’s throat because the growing up of the narrator allowed him to think differently of every situation. For example the narrator was content and even happy to be enrolled in college not wanting any trouble from anyone, but later in the end of the story the narrator purposefully deceives an entire brotherhood, going from one end of the spectrum to another.
Plot Structure and Organization:
Ralph Ellison wrote a very nicely flowing book in Invisible Man because all the events in between the prologue and epilogue were in perfect order really reflects the attitude of the narrator at each individual moment. In the beginning of the story where the cruel white men gathered to watch a battle royal which consisted of blindfolding black men and forcing them to fight each other. The narrator at the time was very timid and considerably more self unaware compared to the latter version of himself. In the battle royal the narrator did what was told of him. The plot is intertwined with the revelations the narrator goes through and so the organization of the novel reflects that of the change of attitude rather than a knight’s journey where everyone lives happily ever after once the fierce dragon has been slain. The constant changing in the struggles of the narrator goes the same way the possibilities for the narrator fall and rise. For instance when all the narrator wanted to do was work in the paint factory he was making goals for just himself so he couldn’t have as much influence as when he became the lead spokesman for the Brotherhood focusing on the rights of Harlem and the community. When more people get involved the structure of the plot becomes more about choosing the right path rather than the narrator keeping his head down not looking ahead. As the novel progress to the end the narrator hides in an underground coal cellar to contemplate his actions and in order to show his transformation he burns all his ties to a deceptive past. The plot shows the narrator the legacy of his life and what he has to show for it, and in an act of a complacent man, the narrator ponders whether to come up out of his hideaway.
Literary Devices:
Throughout Mr. Ellison’s novel Invisible Manthe narrator eloquently puts everything in perspective through the use of the black vernacular and comical word play. The author illustrates that the time period of the narrator’s journey of self apprehension is post civil war era, and electricity is found throughout New York City so probably around the earlier 1900’s. Being the early twentieth century the common street language or dialect was quite diverse compared to the southern drawl where everything is very polite with the yes and no suhs. Even the narrator in his later years after his ordeal said “so it was all a build-up to bore us with his buggy jiving” showing a different word choice to the modern language. Ellison also shows us his more educated and scholarly side by using Latin and foreign phrases like mea culpa and avant-gardebringing the wide range of vocabulary along with bring connecting thoughts to create a master piece of a novel. Then the word play Ellison uses is very comical even when it comes to naming the side characters involved with the narrator’s life, like brother Tobitt sounding like two bit even spelling two bit saying that the man isn’t whole or together in his ideology. Finally there was a moment that was humorous to me and that was at the eulogy of Tod Clifton. The narrator gives a rather sadistic speech to the hundreds gathered at the funeral ceremony saying whenever you (the black race) think of a police man think of trigger whenever the police try to put you down because of race. On a quieter note Ellison was not shy to add in a swear word or two especially when it came to talking about Dr. Bledsoe after he back stabbed and lied to the narrator, but this only added positively to the high emotions the narrator was going through and was a significant part of Ellison’s diction.
