Identity tends to be a never ending battle in the Invisible Man with the narrator never truly sure where his heart lies. This novel follows the genre of a bildungsroman, where his overshadows a characters coming of age moments. Through this constant battle the narrator finds within himself and trying to please society as well we reach a moment of complete rebirth after his accident in the paint factory. The narrator awakes in the hospital, where doctors are deciding between tactics such as castration and shock therapy, due to the fact that he is unable to speak and is dealing with acute amnesia. Due to the accident at the factory the narrator has most likely lost his job, thus the only remaining aspect connecting him to his old life and the university have vanished. He is now unaware of what is occurring and is confused as to why he cannot speak. This scene symbolizes a rebirth, with him detaching from his old life, and entering a new chapter. When he is asked of his mother, he entries an entire consciousness of not only knowing who his mother is, but being unsure to define what a mother is at all. He is being reborn throughout the absence of his parent, thus the ideologies that they have been placed on him before are now relinquished as he is able to create his own set of ideologies. However with the next question he is asked, no matter how many times he may be able to be “reborn” in this society the stereotypes that follows a black male continues. They ask him “Who was Buckeye the Rabbit?”, convinced that due to his skin color he should be able to answer this answer regardless of his condition. At first the narrator was angry that such a question would be asked and then he begins to laugh on the inside at the doctors, pondering on the idea that he IS Buckeye the Rabbit, he is scared that an old identity has appeared to encroach onto his journey of newness. This rebirth however simply entails a new side of the invisible man, as his ability to not speak and for the doctors to continue to conjure up terrifying procedures on him, even though he is unable to speak depicts that through all of this he is still quite invisible. However his invisibility now has made him free, as he is able to enter New York with those surrounding him unaware of who he is, yet the accident has granted him a check, and the freedom to enter the city enduring any path he may desire. His rebirth has gifted him a side of him that is more evolved than his past, with undertones of his path still leeching on, reminding him of his beginnings.

In the Invisible Man, racism and inequality continues to be a large part of this novel and its themes that tie this work of art together. When the unnamed narrator is given a job in the paint factory through his university he realizes it is in a factory to create “optic white paint”. The paint in this novel is known to be the whitest of the white, and able to cover any surface. “Our white is so white you can paint a chunks of coal and you’d have to crack it open with a sledge hammer to prove it wasn’t white clear through.”. This becomes a metaphor for the racial inequality that Blacks face in America during this time. In the factory you have several Black hardworking people working hard to cover these lumps of coal with this paint that buries the darkness that lies underneath so that it may be set forth to the world looking “pure” as ever. This symbolizes how Black people are constantly forced to do all types of manual labor, just for White people to come around and gather all the credit for it. The White House itself shines bright in all of its beauty, yet the public continues to forget that the house that stands for freedom was built by slaves. The forced work of Black people are constantly overlooked by the clean and pure image that White people put out stealing their credit. It projects the dominance and privilege that white people hold over Black people. The power of privilege continues when we are able to realize that though Booker may carry a position of some power in this factory, he is constantly overcome by fear over losing his job.  He carries this fear and turns it into disdain over labor activists. He believes that they should be grateful that the white men in power have allowed them to work in his factory, and that they should not yearn for equality but rather economic success instead. He hides this fear by continuing to brag about his indispensability in the factory to the narrator, which makes his insecurities about his place at the factory and in life in general more evident. These type of toxic mindsets simply fuel the agenda that the privileged White people carry over Blacks. They dangle their jobs over their heads so that they may work in fear of ever losing their jobs, this too scared to ever revolt or work in fair working conditions. The inequalities that are depicted in this chapter create a larger picture over what continues in the politics in real world society with the unequal disparities that occur to the races.

 The prologue of the Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is unlike one I have ever read before. Within these few short pages the author has been able to eloquently give us an inside look on the complexities of this character in a truly remarkable way. He begins this introduction by letting us know that he is invisible, not in a physical sense but in a way where the whites can never truly see him. His “ghostliness” is an presence of absence to those who can not see him.There is a bit of a paradox within this, as though he describes himself in this manner he also states that everyone else around him is blind. To call others blind means that they are physically unable to see him, as though he makes it appear that he may find comfort in his ability to remain unseen, just because they are unable to view him, makes me think at the same time he yearns for them to see him in a light outside the color of his skin, yet labels them as blind as an excuse of being able to do so. He makes a case that he is so keen on remaining on staying invisible, yet his actions speak differently. He gets by, by residing in a shut off basement in an apartment building that only houses white tenants, this may be his way to desire to be one of the whites by choosing to live in a building where only they are able to live. Though his place to live is shut off by the rest of the building he lights up the his place to live with over a thousand light bulbs. This is an extremely evident detail as for a man who spends his days wanting to be invisible and is told by others that the dark complexion of his skin define him, chooses to live in a place consumed of light. This is where his bout of existentialism comes in as he is searching for his own individuality and believes he is able to find it throughout his own endeavors despite outside factors telling him otherwise. His expedition continues while he blasts Louis Armstrong song “Black and Blue”, and wishes to be able to own more francophones to play this song even louder. The paradox in this continues with him playing this song at the loudest volumes with lyrics containing “my only sin is my skin”, where you are able to understand his struggles with his identity and how his skin color is an obstacle is what prevents him from being seen, yet wanting to play this loud enough to even hear the vibrations shows that he wants to break through from the barrier that his skin grants and does in fact want to be seen and heard. This leads to a state of confusion and feeling lost and he doesn’t know what to feel he is stuck between two worlds, one being consumed with light and music, and one where he must succumb to his darkness and the invisibility it entails.

Tahra Jirari

   In both pieces of writings by R.W Emerson and Zora Neale Hurston, in their own way they both touch on their own ideas of identity and what does and does not contribute to it. However in order to be able to understand these separate pieces of writings and compare them, we must first understand the writings of Emerson that derive from a white man who has most likely experienced a life of privilege, and the story that Hurston tells as a female minority.

 Hurston begins her story with the strong statement that we may believe will outline the entirety of the article with “I AM COLORED ME” yet juxtaposes a negative conjunction right after to almost stimulate the statement itself. These capitalizations continue as she tells her story of being a ‘negro’ in a ‘negro town’, but develop into “BUT I AM NOT”  to “SOMETIMES IT IS” to conclude with “AT CERTAIN TIMES”. This portrays character development where she follows her last statement with “I have no race, I am me”. Zora has lived a life where she longs to be nothing but Zora and undoubtedly thought she was just that until she was thrown in a world with those with a  lighter shade of skin are able to live a completely different life than her for that same exact reason. Hurston realizes however that her race does not define her and should never limit the endless possibilities she may be able to contain, the mere physicalities of her skin compare to nothing when she finds herself in her element and music. She belongs to nothing and should not have to identify or categorize as anything that will diminish this cosmic state of mind.

  Emerson in Nature once he has become so completely engulfed in nature finds that there is no bounty able to class him. Racism, sexism or any classist feature of society can outwardly affect him, he has created his new identity, that can fit any humanly nature. “The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be acquaintances,—master or servant, is then a trifle and a disturbance.” The simple  mundane attributes of life are now one of no importance, he believes to have been promoted to a self that is no longer human but one that can be labeled as the “transparent eye”. This is something we have all touched on as children having not yet been affected by the trivial aspects of life that affect us as an adult, to finally achieve now, knowing what truly matters, a greater sense of the soul that only nature can grant.This higher sense of power is relatable to the one Hurston enjoys when she becomes embraced with music, despite these authors physical differences, once they have both reached a point where they find inner peace within themselves, they feel able to break all of the restrictions that society forces down on them and place themselves within no category.