The Blacks and Whites of Misautogeny

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In the opening paragraph of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, the protagonist introduces readers to what he means when he refers to himself as invisible: the protagonist is seen only for the color of his skin, and thus, grouped into an African-American general populace. In grouping the protagonist, whites not only refuse to see him but also forbid him from possessing an individual identity. Using Ellison’s prologue to Invisible Man, Louis Armstrong’s “Black and Blue” (referenced in the prologue), and additional intertextual allusions, this essay argues that jazz music enables Ellison’s protagonist to separate himself from the African-American general populace and retain his individuality; jazz music shows him that he already accepts his invisibility, and that he listens differently to the lyrics than others. The wider implication being made is that, by listening to jazz music, an invisible man is compelled to act. He learns to take advantage of his invisibility so as to undermine the culture that oppresses him and be seen.
To start with, Armstrong’s take on “Black and Blue” – originally written about a dark-skinned woman lamenting her lighter-skin lover’s infidelity – transcends one person’s microhistory and functions to poignantly address racism and its effects on African-American macrohistory (Alger). Through key diction choices, including repetition of the words “old” and “all,” Armstrong describes the omnipresent force that is racism and how it has affected the African-American community for generations (1-2; 3-4). In doing so, the singer transforms a song about infidelity into an anthem that directly comments on whites cheating African Americans out of life. As such, Armstrong’s “Black and Blue” is aimed at uniting an African-A...

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...y jazz music. He begins by playing the music while eating his favorite dessert of vanilla ice cream and sloe gin (7). The protagonist describes the scene as follows: “I pour the red liquid over the white mound, watching it glisten and the vapor rising as Louis bends the military instrument into a beam of lyrical sound” (7). The color imagery, of a white mound and a red liquid, works to depict the mass genocide of whites; the mound acts as a symbol of the decimated race of people and the red liquid acts as a symbol of their bloodshed. This scene satirizes Armstrong and the Africa-American general populace, who are brought simply enjoyment or are unified by jazz music. Dissimilarly, the protagonist thinks only of action when he hears Armstrong sing “Black and Blue.” He cements this point when he refers to Armstrong’s musical instrument as being of the “military” (7).

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