KIMIESHA FULLER
PROFESSOR ALLRED
ENGLISH 252
FEBRUARY 10 , 2019
The Invisible Man ( Now You See Me Now You Don’t ).
Through the history of black culture , each individual who is considered black is forced to accept who there are as a person verses what is given to them in society .Ralph Ellison is a black man who simply expresses the way in which the world for blacks is govern by whites and the remarkable power they have even up to today . He then shares through is experiences how he felt being around people who undeniable refuses to accept the truth of black people as a individual , and not as a group not subjected to change instead judging others based of their cultural background and with that racial prejudice and true individual identity played a significant role in his novel .
The protagonist of the novel a black man who is having an nostalgic moment of omission of guilt for how he once viewed his grandparents who were once enslaved but freed during the time of the civil war , sees himself as an ‘’Invisible man “ which is an indication used by the author to imply that as a black person in society your true identity is not present instead your are perceived by the perception of others namely whites .For example , “ I suspected that fighting a battle royal might detract from the dignity of my speech , in those pre-invisible days “ ( 18). This young black intelligent college student who is expected to give a graduation speech is bombarded with expectation to fight amongst his peers and this is a perfect example of the expectations of whites towards black people turning young black educated man into arrogant individuals justified through fighting and brutality living up to the white expectations of how blacks ought to be treated.
The protagonist in Ralph Ellison Invisible Man is a man of confidence and with the knowledge given to him by is grandfather of how blacks were oppressed by whites he was then taught on how to live and act when he is around all that whiteness. For example , the message given by the grandfather on his deathbed can be conveyed with that of wisdom and of experience “ live with your head in the lion’s mouth . I want you to overcome ‘em with yeses , undermine ‘em with grins , agree ‘em to death and destruction “(16).Racism is yet at the forefront in today’s society even through education blacks have to fight seemingly hard to prove they or worthy of such knowledge and have to be careful on what they say and do , it is true inequality does still exist and most times black people will not get the recognition they deserve .
With the issue at hand identity and racial injustices is presented in a way where the narrator in this profound novel incorporates the ways in which African American in the 20th century then and now are continuously being denounce . Blacks struggles to be their true selves living in a white racist American society . Power and authority dictates how blacks should behave as an individual and a cultural group in society .Being treated unfairly is not only unjust but blindsights human beings from viewing each other as equal instead as unwanted creatures now where is the justice in that .
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