Character Development In Ralph Ellisons The Invisible Man

Character development within novels with complex plot structures proves to be a difficult task necessitating the author to add their own inner thoughts and experiences to weave a more realistic story. The historical background of a writer helps glean on information about that person’s unconscious and subconscious processes that become apparent within an author’s literature. As the author develops their thoughts throughout a novel attempting to paint a clearer picture of their purpose, their own persona becomes a part of the literature. Psychoanalytic theory attempts to further this claim by taking information from one’s childhood, inner taboo thoughts and hidden motivations, and synthesizing them for a better picture of the author’s†¦show more content†¦Ellison relays this when his narrator is â€Å"under the spell of the reefer,† and discovers â€Å"a new analytical way of listening to music† (Ellison 8). Although the man despises t he feeling of altered time that reefer is associated with, he can appreciate the sensitivities of music within the manipulated psychological state of mind. Without Ellison’s own experiences with music and the feelings of euphoria it brought upon him, it would be nearly impossible to relay such clear messages of passion within the novel. This character in the very beginning of the novel was one that had been satisfied with his life and decided to remain actively dormant to the outside world, but as Ellison tells his story, music is mentioned in multiple instances. As he attempts to find a job, Mr. Emerson’s son tells him that â€Å"a number of my friends are jazz musicians...I know the conditions under which you live - Why go back?† (Ellison 188) Ralph Ellison understands the struggle that musicians go through to make a living, especially in places where opportunities are extremely few. Anywhere other than Harlem, the narrator would be unable to find anything to do with his talents. This may be a feeling the younger Ellison himself also felt, the competitiveness and the limited scope of opportunities that musicians had may have forced him to move into the North and even take his talents into the area of writing. Ellison’s childhood experiences with music inspire him to writeShow MoreRelatedMetaphors In Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man1235 Words   |  5 PagesMetaphors in Invisible Man Ellison uses many examples of metaphors in his novel to convey invisibility, especially with references to music, imagery, and the use of a nameless character. With literature that challenged the accepted ideals surrounding that time period, Ellison expresses his thoughts by comparing an invisible man to various relatable subjects in life. When the narrator firsts starts on his journey and gets constantly bumped, he states that â€Å"You constantly wonder whether you aren’tRead MoreBattle Royal - Ralph Ellison Research Paper1209 Words   |  5 PagesBattle of a Black Man Ralph Ellison made it clear that Invisible Man was not based on his own experiences. In an interview, he stated, â€Å"Let me say right now that my book is not an autobiographical work.† However, it is clear that his culture and the time period of his upbringing affected his writing. This is particularly seen in his descriptions of the treatment of blacks, the African American society, and the revelation of the narrator. Like the characters in â€Å"Battle Royal†, African AmericansRead MoreCritical Analysis: Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man Essay1651 Words   |  7 PagesIn Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, we are presented with an unnamed narrator whose values and potentials are invisible to the world around him. Throughout the entirety of the novel, we see the unnamed narrator, also known as the Invisible Man, struggle in an attempt to uncover his identity buried beneath African American oppression and an aggregation of deception. Ellison shows us how lies and deceit may serve as a grave but invaluable obstacle to one’s journey to find their identity. Through theRead MoreThemes and Styles of Ralph Ellison3336 Words   |  14 PagesEnglish IV 16 November 2005 The Themes and Styles of Ralph Ellison Ralph Ellison has proven himself through his novel The Invisible Man to be the leading black author of the twentieth century. Although he had written many short stories and essays collected in the book Shadow and Act, The Invisible Man is his only novel. With this one novel, Ellison earned himself the 1953 National Book Award and acclaim by the African American community for so accurately portraying the struggles a black AmericanRead MoreInvisible Man Character Analysis1533 Words   |  7 PagesIf you skipped from the end of the prologue of Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, all the way until the protagonist’s eviction speech, you would probably pick up the plot and character developments without a problem. The first few ordeals described in the novel can be infuriating because of the narrator’s naà ¯ve outlook and his persistence in trying to follow a ‘respectable’ path upwards in life. All of the psychological shifts that lead up to the captivating scena rio from the first few pages happenRead MoreEssay on Ralph Ellisons Battle Royal1164 Words   |  5 Pagesthe subsequent release of their people from bondage. In Ralph Ellisons 1948 short story Battle Royal, he uses the point of view of a young black man living in the south to convey the theme of racial identity crisis that faced African Americans in the United States during the early to mid 20th century. Ellison begins Battle Royal with a brief introduction to the storys theme with a passage from the Invisible Mans thoughts: All my life I had been looking for somethingRead MoreThe Invisible Man By Ralph Ellison1409 Words   |  6 Pagescome. However, in Ralph Ellison’s novel, The Invisible Man, the prologue serves as the beginning of the end, in preparation for an epilogue that revisits the narrator’s original inner conflict at the end of a personal narrative. Situated in a hidden underground cellar, the main character, the Invisible Man recounts the journey of his naive youth from the American south to the seemingly optimistic north in Harlem, New York. However, through several unjust experiences, the Invisible Man doubts the possibilityRead MoreInvisible Man By Ralph Ellison1908 Words   |  8 Pagesand history, especially as African Americans began publishing their own works regarding their personal experiences. Ralph Ellison’s novel, Invisible Man, is cons idered to be a milestone that greatly contributed to a change in American literature. It transformed society’s view on African American struggles and black identity. He tells of young, college-educated African American man struggling in society as he experiences racial discrimination, invisibility to others and himself, and the struggle toRead MoreThe Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison2489 Words   |  10 Pagesâ€Å"I AM AN invisible man.† A story of obstacles of durable struggle, but hope, and everlasting search for voice in a narrow-minded society; The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison depicts the dehumanization and feeling of being ostracized in society, of one man. Imagine a time when everyone you encounter have a racial thought or credibility toward your own races, never considering the fact that who you are as a person does not matter worth a dime. You are better determines on shade of your skin which hideRead MoreEssay on Search for Identity in Ralph Ellisons Invisi ble Man2669 Words   |  11 Pagesidentity. Ralph Ellison, a prominent author fascinated by man’s search for identity, thought that blacks were invisible primarily because whites refused to see them. He believed that true identity could be revealed by experiencing certain endeavors and overcoming them (Parr and Savery 86). Ellison explores this theme in Invisible Man, which depicts the title character struggling to find his identity despite facing obstacles created by both white men and his fellow blacks. In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible