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Objectified, Stereotyped In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

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Objectified, Stereotyped In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison introduces several different characters that encounter situations that interpret the way they are shaped. The people in the novel tend to use their experiences to adjust their judgement, which also allows the readers to recognize the character’s weakness and strengths. As the reader progresses in the novel, they realize how the characters overcome difficult scenarios their psyche changes in unexpected ways. In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, women are objectified, stereotyped, and their issues were lessened. As the novel progresses, the reader can depict that women are objectified by society. Ellison portrays the narrator as a blinded person attempting to find his purpose in society. It first initiated when invisible man was invited to the smoker to deliver a speech for a college scholarship. Once at the smoker, the narrator stumbled across the nude dancer, which he describes:
The hair was yellow like that of a circus kewpie doll, the face heavily powdered and rouged, as though to form an abstract mask, the eyes hollow and smeared a
…show more content…

This very insignificance provides the narrator with the means to reach his end, conscious recognition of his invisibility. (Lavender 149)
As the narrator grasps the idea, he manipulates his invisibility to shut down the Brotherhood. Ellison created a great portrayal of women being objectified by men. Through the novel, Ellison chose to write about the stereotypes society would impose on women. Throughout Invisible Man, Ellison involved the topics of women being objectified, stereotyped, and their issues being minimized. No women in the novel ever saw that they were mistreated by society, but the narrator was able to acknowledge that the struggles women faced during that time period of invisibility. Without these subjects it would have been difficult to comprehend the issues female characters underwent during this time


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