The Epilogue In The Invisible Man By Ralph Ellison

After reading the tale of events in the novel, the epilogue brings the reader right back to the prologue. Ellison even inserts “the end was in the beginning” into this section because the epilogue literally is the same setting and message as the prologue. Replicating the prologue in the epilogue is significant because the reader can now appreciate the message more. While reading the prologue, the reader may not have understood the power of invisibility or the struggle to find self- awareness. Reading the novel and discovering that there is an Invisible Man within us all may cause the reader to more closely relate to the narrator at this point. The last sentence “Who knows but that…I speak for you?” can attest to Ellison being aware that many