“Invisible Man” is the story of one unnamed black man’s journey to self discovery. And, oh what a journey it is! In the opening scene he is isolated, living in an underground hovel in Harlem, so disillusioned with his past life that he has severed all ties, suspended all action, figuratively speaking, has become invisible. Hence he tells his story, dropping back to the days of segregation and unrestrained discrimination, when the narrator was a high school senior and naively thought he was going important places. He imagined himself ready to follow in Booker T. Washington’s footsteps and become an inspiration to all blacks, a catalyst for change, an ambassador for equal rights.
In spite of winning a scholarship to the only black college in the south, he experiences a series of life altering disappointments, painful betrayals, and shocking revelations. One particularly haunting scene is when he is invited to give his high school valedictorian speech to a select group of white men at a private gathering. It turns out prior to his speaking, he is forced to enter a boxing ring blindfolded with 11 other peers and box until there is only one boy left standing. And afterwards, as if that weren’t enough, money is scattered onto an electrified square of carpet and all 12 boys are forced to claim their reward. Ellison paints a very graphic image of those obese, red-faced white men, cigars hanging out of their mouths, drooling and practically getting aroused watching the boys struggle through this perverted nightmare, being pushed to the carpet and getting shocked every time they reached for a few coins, battered and bruised, their faces bloody from fighting. This scene sets the stage for the narrator’s insatiable pursuit for equal rights; his college experience, association with the Brotherhood, and his plunge to nihility.
The Modern Library Edition of “Invisible Man” offers an introduction written by Ralph Ellison in which he says his narrator “is associated ever so distantly” with the narrator of Dostoevsky’s “Notes from the Underground.” Dostoevsky’s narrator also surrenders to nihility, suspended in a sphere of nothingness, disillusioned by the false promise of communist dogma. But the similarity ends there. Dostoevsky’s character is weak, repugnant, offensive, and a slacker who makes every effort to draw on the readers sympathy, whereas Ellison’s narrator is ambitious, principled, and in many ways heroic.
I started out thinking this was going to be a “poor me” plea using the “race issue” to exploit sympathy for the narrator, but that would be an insult to Ellison. There is a much deeper message of existentialist philosophy; man’s responsibility to himself and a message of hope. Ellison provides an example of how one man’s story can impact the future and “Invisible Man” imparts the message that whatever the circumstances, it is never too late to seek salvation and begin anew.
This incredible story won Ellison the National Book Award in 1952 and still remains on the top 100 Novels list of Modern Library and the Readers Choice list. It’s a must read!
Rated 5 Stars.
I use a rating scale of 1 to 5. Books rated 1 I seldom finish. Books rated 2, I usually finish but would never recommend to anyone. 5 is the highest rating.