How Ideology Hinders Individuality

 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 identity yet, but he simply views the mistreatment and oppression he faces as normal and a part of his identity, based on the ideology pushed on him at the college. Later, when he joins the Brotherhood, the reinvention of his identity is still based around an ideology. The ideology of the Brotherhood holds many differences to the college’s in that it advocates for the empowerment of the “dispossessed” (though this word is used very vaguely in their context). It aims to empower and free the people, regardless of their race, gender, and class. However, the events of the book prove that the Brotherhood still does not truly represent the narrator’s identity, or his perception of others. 

In both cases, The ideology of the college and the Brotherhood both fail to fully encompass the human experience, and they fall flat in their explanation and organization of human kind. Even though the Brotherhood outwardly represents freedom, equality, and empowerment, their method achieves no real progress in social movements or introspection. Humanity cannot be put into boxes or compartmentalized, so the Brotherhood’s separation of society through the “race question” or the “woman question” misses the mark on truly understanding the implications behind societal oppression or patterns. Therefore, during his time at the college and in the Brotherhood, the narrator cannot understand the concepts of identity and individuality, because the ideologies ingrained in him simplifies and limits his comprehension of them. That is why, when the narrator views society from below in his hole, removed from his past at the college and the Brotherhood, he finally sees the flaws of ideology and understands his true identity. Perhaps this concept explains why the narrator claims he speaks for us at the end of the book. His memoir puts into words what we cannot comprehend, because we still live in a world centered around ideologies, while he has freed himself from it.