Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison was written on the heels of the World War II. It was a rebuilding time, a time of new birth for our nation. Ellison, an enlisted spend came out of the war with haunting imagery that he crafted on the page. He exited the war fil lead with suffering and depression. He found isolation as a means of transitioning back into society. Invisible Man is a story of characters that chose to hide out from society, living underground.I will argue why Ellisons satirical approach tapped into segregation issues and was a powerful and influential means of gain an audience that can relate to its theme on many a(prenominal) different levels. decease is an overwhelming subplot within the theme of Ellisons masterwork. He chose a satirical approach to lighten the weight of termination. Yet, at the same time, the powerful adjoin that death has on individuals is viewed with clarity due to his poetic, colorful, and humorous means of reaching his audience.He opens the story with banter while probing into the inner meanings of ones rails in life. This, in effect, lays the groundwork for our relay link, the storyteller. Ellison penned, I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. (p. 15). this quote lets us in on the narrators persona. It begins. Our protagonistand narratoris a young boy who overhears his grandfathers last dying words. These words remain deeply wedged within him, through higher(prenominal) school and college.Issues beyond death play important roles in this original as well. Ellison digs deep and moves across thin ice, so-to-speak, when he brings in issues much(prenominal) as incest, stereotyping and exploitation of women to the table thus, without satirical softening through dialogue and deepeven poeticstory telling, readers might question his motive if he didnt take the spot of satire. The article The Music of Invisibility from City of Words offers a very telling analysi s that helps in the argumentative stance I have taken in Ellisons work, Invisible Man.Just as the narrator is about to be sent away from college for his behaviors at the interdict and brothel, he senses that he is losing his own identity, the only one hes ever known. This identity was forged in his childhood. The letters from Dr. Bledsoe had the initial intent of maneuver him to find a job that will, in turn, lead him into the bowels of his higher educational pursuits. They, instead, backfire. The letters hinder his progress, as it is Bledsoes secret scheme to keep him as far away from higher educational pursuits as possible. We see the issue of death surface over and over in the story.Early on, our narrator is led into a bar filled with amiable patients from a nearby veterans hospital. Ellison displays an elderly man, near death, who is pushed around in the bar by our mental patrons. They treat our narrator and the old man the likes of a toy, feigning any morale fiber whatsoever . A barway brawl ensues with your stereotypical beer-bottle-throwing blastoff. Then, to satirize the situation further, our narrator leads the unconscious old man into an upper flat to get away from the warring men down in the bar. The upper room is filled with prostitutes who miss the gravity of this dying mans situation.One prostitute says, I sho do. I just love em. Now this one, old as he is, he could put his shoes under my bed any night. (p. 88) Also, its no coincidence that the bar and brothel are on the other side of the railroad tracks. This represented an underground segment of society gone wild, yet another segregated piece of society growing in dickens directions the pleasure seekers and, at the other end of the spectrum, we have the good-natured cynic. So, depending on what side of the track a person walks, their political stance will vary.As our narrator returns to his college campus, he exits from the apparent lower crust of society that dwells in saloons and goes w indow-shopping through brothels and enters his collegiate setting. Here, however, we see segregation in the lime light his champagne roommate enters with a hopeful girlfriend. The narrator states that shell probably become impregnated. This rude remark that he hoped will get a negative reaction actually wins him praisedenouncing this segment of society that claims higher status due to their educational pursuits.We see how the symbol of fertility for college students is viewed in stark contrast to the middle-class expectations many of the students were raised in. Our narrator is confronted by campus officials for going to the bar and brothel in the first place and even called nigger, which inflames our narratorand rightly so. This hits the mark of segregation that Ellison was reaching for. He does it with biting clarity. They even threaten to expel our narrator and, the reverse-discrimination attempts by our narrator are of no use in this situationat least(prenominal) in so far as the ruling official is concerned.Ellison wrote, He said that I believed white was right, I said. What? Suddenly his face twitched and cracked like the surface of dark water. (p. 140) The intensity of this argumentative scene is strengthened further by Ellisons use of satire within a deeply scar scene where segregation is toyed with. The official even goes on to yell at our narrator by asking if the man in question was northern or southern. This geographic tip is almost a slap in the face and could only b softened, again, with Ellisons satire-like plotting and character development. Then, our narrator is staged into a scene of isolation by Ellison.It is in this very state of isolation that the narrator begins to gain confidence. He wants to represent his school with pride. He goes to Harlem. Aboard a subway, our narrator is pushed into a white woman. She gives little, if any notice, of him. Even her lack of concern over the narrators close proximity adds mysterious intensity to th e scene as centuries of racial tension are nearly impossible to ignore. He, then, meets up with a huge contingent of blacks from Harlem. A riot is brewing yet, the police force lead him to the Mens House. Eventually, our narrators agitation surrounding all this racial tension and segregation issues gets to him.As the scene unfold Ralph Ellison weaves sarcastic wit into the story by mixing rage into his thoughts with memories of our narrators childhood. A vendor is seen buttering a yam which swells him with nostalgia. He is beyond find outing homesick as he is drown in rage. He becomes vengeful over his own past. He attacks Bledsoe and is laughing at the same time. The yam becomes a urinate of life insurance, or a life policy. Why should he feel embarrassment of his youth? Instead, he chooses to eat them whenever he wants, and hell be more than than pleased. Ellison describes this satire in the following, These here is real, sweet, yaller yams.How many? One, I said. If theyre tha t good, one should be enough. (p. 263) Ellison creates more satireagain with death. Here, the satire is the necessary writerly element that creates involve without losing the reader. I cut through a block in which there were a dozen funeral parlors, each decked out with neon signs, all set up in old brownstone buildings (p. 286). This satirical segment of the novel creates the humor necessary to softens the blow regarding respecting the dead and families in mourning. Rinehart is another key player in the plot line that is heavily tainted in satirical prose.Rinehart is a very suspicious and distrustful fellow member of the Harlem community who holds his share of power. Rinehart is also a manipulator. The narrator never meets up with Rinehart. He wears dark green shades an a big hat for a disguiseanother agent of mockery crafted by Ellison that guess fun of how society tries to hide from one another, yet they are always obvious to someone in the crowd of life for the people walkin g the streets bang him. According to the narrator, Rinehart has taken on many roles zoot suit wearer, Reverend, and player.He uses his reverend stature to manipulate others to believe in him and follow his requests. Rinehart is the poster-child manipulator of his culture. As the novel nears its end, our narrator makes a leap of faith, so to speak. He is tossed back into his own past and life experiences. Now he envisions his past as a unify whole. He believes in his Brotherhood experiences for they have shown how blinded he was in his youth. He sees all the liars and hypocrites in society. He discovers that he can make them feel happy when he preaches what they want to hear.This is yet another satirical slant taken by Ellison that wraps up his characterization and thematic nature. In closing, it is clear that the impact of Ellisons Invisible Man was so persuasive due to his knack for mixing satire into his storyline. With all the issues that he brought to light segregation, racism , and gender inequalitysatire was the lightening element that helped keep the story moving as our narrator discovered himself, first in isolation and finally as a member of this society filled with hypocrites and those yearning for equality.