Clara's Blog :)

  In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, the motif of identity threads through the plot as the narrator struggles to understand himself and his perception of others. As he faces new environments and their unique obstacles during the story, The narrator’s idea of identity progressively becomes more faceted and complex, until he comes to a conclusion at the climax of the novel. However, what causes him to finally understand identity? To answer this question, I reflected on the role of another important motif in Invisible Man: ideology.  For the majority of the narrator’s journey, his relationship with the concept of identity is closely tied with whatever ideology his environment promotes. At the narrator’s college, Booker T Washington’s ideology of being deferential and humble to the white man represents the administrator’s views of black peoples’ role in society, which, therefore, the narrator believes as well. At this point in the novel, the narrator hasn’t deeply questioned his id...

A major theme of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man is the narrator’s identity. In the story, his self perception drastically evolves through the events and circumstances he faces. Initially, the narrator tries to hide his true feelings and opinions, and expresses his identity solely based on how he wants others, specifically white people, to perceive him. He aims to please, and he doesn’t question his identity and the treatment he receives from white people. After Bledsoe’s betrayal in Chapter 9, the narrator realizes his previous role in society was as a subservient pawn, and resolves to get revenge and trek his own path. However, when he joins the Brotherhood, the narrator once again has to assume an alternate identity and exist as simply a cog in the Brotherhood, despite its progressive ideology. At this point of the novel, though the narrator has escaped the South, he has not escaped his invisibility. At the beginning of Invisible Man, the narrator doesn’t fully understand the oppressi...