The dream like idea of belonging continues to be present throughout the novel, as the narrator eventually begins to understand the reality of the situation, he has experienced the feeling of betrayal when the Brotherhood had intentionally excluded him from the meeting, he slowly began to understand that he was simply used aa a tool. It would be nice to rebel but he is aware that to protest against the power he needs to be distant from it and then strategically come up with a plan of how to address the racism that ongoing. Just as Clifton’s sambo dolls reminds me of the powerful symbolism of puppets, which is very similar to the way black Americans have subjected themselves to see it as the norm to behave in a particular way that they ought to, simply because that’s the way they have been trained or advised to behave.

So, for the narrator to see that he had been used as a puppet and must now snap out of that show and create his own without aimlessly drifting off or acting in a way that will only lead to his death. He takes it upon himself to chisel Clifton’s memory into the minds of the black people which was him simply looking for trouble because he has stepped on the toes of the Brotherhood and with that move he seems to be against them, he didn’t ask for permission regarding Clifton’s eulogy and has now supposedly over stepped his boundaries. And as the Brotherhood expose their anger it becomes apparent that their notion to reject racism is in turn actually reawakening it. The Brotherhood is more focused on their image and will rather dance around the topic than hit the nail straight on its head and acknowledge the reality of a racist murder. The blindness of the committee to address the issue is an illustration of Jack’s glass eye, it symbolizes the group’s attempt to camouflage their blindness and the blindness of their ideologies. This demonstrates that the required tool for the Brotherhood is blindness which isn’t limited to just the followers but to the leaders also. Ironically as Jack loses his eyesight the narrator begins to see more clearly, he is able to ask probing questions to understand the hidden meaning of their words and is no longer just listening to what they have to say but now realizing his own goals and values compared to the Brotherhood’s are very different, observing that the group’s agenda seems to be very far from their supposed goals and values.

Racial bias is a thing and a topic that unfortunately still exists and is certainly relevant till this present day, it’s very sad to see that regardless of all one could be or what one could achieve, color is still the first thing that is seen, a society that continuously strips one of their identity and refuses to see the individual for who they are other than the color of their skin.

In Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison introduces the character without a name which might be shocking but truly serves a purpose, the lack of a name for the character bears witness of his lack of identity, though it’s not of a physical sense rather of a social sense, this lack of identity relates to Du Bois’s concept of double consciousness whereby one feels their identity is divided into parts obstructing the sense of a unified identity. This social invisibility that Ellison portrays marginalizes one by color and is present in reality for African Americans which testifies to Fanon’s ideology of experiencing trauma daily yet our nameless character in Invisible Man is able to deal with it comfortably. The struggle to continuously alternate one’s character in order to fit in will only lead one to lose part of one’s true identity, the limitations of vision on how one’s viewed eventually caused the character to be unsure of how to behave around white people and always conscious of having to change to fit in only led him to begin to question his real identity. It was clear to observe that the complication of inner self wasn’t restricted to just racism but also to general ideologies. The character sees himself as an invisible man and reckoned with the belief that its beneficial to be invisible and concealed anyways, since he is unable to function accordingly to his true personality it is safer to embrace the invisibility in an attempt to flip the stereotype, a strategy in which he eventually found docile.

As he attempts to find his true place in the world he emerges from “hibernation” as a complex individual who is willing to offer his own contributions to the society whilst hoping that utilizing his knowledge will encourage others to affirm and acknowledge the reality of the external beliefs and behaviors. Ellison related the still relevant topic and social problem that is present in the society, he illustrates and points out how racial discrimination is deeply engraved in Americans.

“In the Fact of Blackness” Fanon clarifies the struggles of being black, in the opening passage he alternates between the 1^stand 3^rdperson, elaborating on what the black man had to endure to uncover his own black identity and how it felt understanding it first-hand whilst distinguishing the dilemma of being black in a world that defines one by the color of their skin, which relates to Du Bois’s argument of color line. Fanon explained how the white man’s gaze and description of blackness welcomes him before he can get to define himself, he is welcomed with a slur, a slur that is degrading and ultimately overshadows him. The voice of the other says “Dirty Nigger” there is simply no room for the black man to experience his being without the reminder from the white man that he is dirt, some sort of brown bag, the society is not bothered about the contents of the brown bag rather solely fixed and focused on the exterior. Fanon further discusses the limitation on self-identity which causes the black man to develop a third person consciousness which he would use to relate to the world and himself thus entering a phase Fanon explained as self-identity arrangement where the black man becomes aware of himself in a triple person, implying that when people see him they see all the history of blackness, all the history of slavery etc. The negro is constantly reminded of this trauma in their everyday life, it is very necessary to be conscious and consider what “it” the society would be place before him, would it be the ‘it” of self-identification, or the “it” of being black or possibly the “it” of history. All these elements and obstacles are placed before a black person before they can even fully discover themselves, instead there is this additional burden that is necessary for the black man to consider and importantly how to respond to it, which shows why he would have to step out of himself and remove the emotions to understand what is being said to him. The black man is not recognized philosophically and the object hood simply removes him from reciprocity which ultimately strips him of himself. In order words, the black man is always fighting in the belated and defense, whilst whiteness has an advantage. The black man is objectified amongst the whites as opposed to Emerson who was able to define himself.

Both of these texts are in no relation to each other and one would wonder where exactly the connection is here but it’s to look at each differently and understand that both authors aren’t exploring the same topic directly.

For Du Bois in “The Souls of Black Folk”, he seems to get straight to the point with his views and is very direct about it, his message addresses issues that he feels were very relevant to black people and the effects of the experiences they endured. Throughout the text Du Bois emphasises the experience of being black in a nation that is partitioned by colour, he elaborated this by touching on what it means to live with two conflicting identities that are unable to unite, instead one has to give way to the other, he coined this “Double consciousness”. He further touched on the experience of the black identity whereby the double consciousness works with “the veil” to conceal the African American identity and forces them to live behind a veil. Describing how life behind the veil is and the thought that it isn’t expected for white people to truly grasp the struggles of the black folks and just to dare imagine or explore what they might have endured during slavery and after. For Du Bois the experiences are overwhelming and the moments are repetitive, he describes trying to escape the reality and he is reminded and restricted by the veil.

The feeling of freedom which Emmerson describes in “Nature” doesn’t exactly match neither does it correlate to Du Bois’s explanation or idea of reality for the black people, it is important to mention both texts aren’t direct replies to the other, they are simply analysed together to explore different experiences and understanding. In “Nature” Emmerson praises individualism and is all for the idea that every man is in charge of himself and makes the connection between spirit of nature and that of man, suggesting that man is in charge of his mind and should be able to differentiate its components when necessary. Emmerson’s idea of wholeness and belief that with nature all is better seems to be a temporary feeling if compared to Du Bois’s. There isn’t a place to lodge the idea of entangling with nature and becoming free for the black people in Du Bois’s text, it is difficult to imagine when exactly it would be possible for the black people that are already enduring the struggles of living a double life and having to be conscious of how the world views them compared to how they view themselves, to consider a break from all of that in order to embrace an unrealistic freedom from nature, I’ll think that would sound rather complicated. Their situation is their reality so the thought of nature and the freedom merging together wouldn’t exactly be realistic, I struggle to place it. For Emmerson that belief would be perfectly fine and relevant but relating it or suggesting the relevance to people who are trying to find ways to escape their reality, I would believe that argument seems quite unequal.