Invisibility in I, Too, Sing America

Invisibility in I, Too, Sing America

Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man, focuses around the main character

(whom we only know as 'Narrator') claiming himself as invisible. The

narrator does not refer to himself as invisible in the light that

nobody can physically see him, but instead that nobody sees him for

what kind of person he truely is. The poem, I, Too, Sing America,

written by Langston Hughes, also focuses around the invisiblity (but

in more of an indirect way) of a black slave. Although the two peices

seem completely different upon first view, the ideas of both are the

same. Both the poem and novel relate to eachother through race and the

"invisibily"of the main characters portrayed.

"I, too, sing America" is the first line of the poem. The poem

progresses towards the end (of which the narrator is treated with

respect) and finishes off with the line, "I, too, am America". When

blacks first saw the possibility of freedom, they dreamt of one day

becoming equal citizins of the country. Although they considered

themsleves members of the country, they were not treated as true

citizens of America should be. At the end of slavery, and the end of

the poem, the narrator says "I, too, am America". Before, all they

could do to make themselves feel like an equal part of the country was

to sing the anthem and 'sing' of their hopes. But now, they were

America. At first, when they were slaves, they could only hope to be

treated equally, and therefore dream of America, but now they actually

were true citizins. The blacks had stopped dreaming (singing) of

America and had become part of it. One of the biggest problems facing

the narrator of the novel is that he is not accepted as a citizen. He

too, wishes for ...

... middle of paper ...

...e blindness of

the whites and their stubburness to see past the black skin of slaves

made it very hard for slaves to ever be heard, because to everyone

else, they were invisible. They did not get a say in anything,

including their own lives. As Ralph Ellison says about invisibility in

the novel, "You often doubt if you really exist" (p.4). It is awfully

hard for anyone to make a difference or a name for themselves when

they don't exist. Such as when the narrator attacks the man in the

street (for calling him a racial term) and sees on the news that it

was called a random "mugging". As the narrator knows, as many perks as

being invisible may give you, it takes away your ability to make an

impact on the world. Together, the poem and novel create a great

picture of how invisibility made the fight for equilty and

individualism very difficult for black slaves.