Invisible Man: Analysis
Title: Invisible Man
1. Significance of the title: The narrator is a black man and feels that everyone sees him as just a “black man” and not who he truly is. So as his true identity remains amassed by the stereotype, the narrator continued to feel like an “invisible man.”
2. Genre: Novel, African-American Literature, Social Commentary, Bildungsroman
3. Date of original publication: 1952
4. Author: Ralph Ellison
5. Setting
The story took place in a college in the American South and Harlem, New York. The story took place within a year and occurred during the 1930s.
6. Importance of this setting
The narrator, which is also the protagonist, was born and raised in the American South. He also experiences the strong African-American culture in Harlem. Throughout the story he explains his thoughts on the contrast of the North and the South. He concluded that he felt some racial freedom in the North and felt like their beliefs against African-Americans were as strong as he anticipated.
7. Plot (key conflicts and resolution, approximately 250 words)
A young black man from the South does not fully understand racism in the world and feels that he is completely ignored and rejected from society. As he is extremely hopeful about his future, he goes to college, but he gets expelled for explaining one of the white benefactors the real and rough side of black existence. He then moves to Harlem and becomes a speaker for the Communist party. This Communist party is widely known as the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood orders the narrator to a meeting during which they reprimand him for taking matters into his own hands. In his designated position, he is both threatened and praised by various citizens, swept up in a world he does not fully understand. He works for the organization, so he encounters many people and situations that gradually force him to face the truth about racism and his own lack of identity. As racial tensions in Harlem continue to build, he gets caught up
1. Significance of the title: The narrator is a black man and feels that everyone sees him as just a “black man” and not who he truly is. So as his true identity remains amassed by the stereotype, the narrator continued to feel like an “invisible man.”
2. Genre: Novel, African-American Literature, Social Commentary, Bildungsroman
3. Date of original publication: 1952
4. Author: Ralph Ellison
5. Setting
The story took place in a college in the American South and Harlem, New York. The story took place within a year and occurred during the 1930s.
6. Importance of this setting
The narrator, which is also the protagonist, was born and raised in the American South. He also experiences the strong African-American culture in Harlem. Throughout the story he explains his thoughts on the contrast of the North and the South. He concluded that he felt some racial freedom in the North and felt like their beliefs against African-Americans were as strong as he anticipated.
7. Plot (key conflicts and resolution, approximately 250 words)
A young black man from the South does not fully understand racism in the world and feels that he is completely ignored and rejected from society. As he is extremely hopeful about his future, he goes to college, but he gets expelled for explaining one of the white benefactors the real and rough side of black existence. He then moves to Harlem and becomes a speaker for the Communist party. This Communist party is widely known as the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood orders the narrator to a meeting during which they reprimand him for taking matters into his own hands. In his designated position, he is both threatened and praised by various citizens, swept up in a world he does not fully understand. He works for the organization, so he encounters many people and situations that gradually force him to face the truth about racism and his own lack of identity. As racial tensions in Harlem continue to build, he gets caught up