Unseen Identity

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“I am an invisible man. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids-and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me…When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination – indeed, everything and anything except me” (Ellison 7). Ralph Ellison in Invisible Man goes through great lengths to show the reader the struggle of the narrator in trying to find his identity. From his time in the south attending college as the token black student, to the his time in Harlem as an activist, the narrator is in a constant struggle to find out who he is and differentiate it from how others choose to see him. The struggle of the narrator in Invisible Man, however, is not unique or unusual. While the novel is fictions, it is making a larger point of how difficult it is for black men to identify their true selves in America. It shows that on their quest to find their identity, they fall many times, and if they get up, they are left not knowing what to do or where to go, making them want to resort to living in a New York City manhole. The unnamed narrator in Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison struggles because, like many success-seeking black men, he must face fortified psychological and institutional stigmas of black inferiority in an effort to discover their true identity. For with no identity, they shall become invisible. The identity crisis for Black Men is activated and nurtured by the American Society from the days of slavery. “The peculiar institution of chattel slavery was meant to be a permanent condition for Black males; a condition that would lay the historical framework for structual and institutional racism that resul... ... middle of paper ... ...e cause of the black male’s identity crisis. Works Cited Austin, Regina. "Back to basics: returning to the matter of black inferiority and white supremacy in the post-Brown era." Journal of Appellate Practice and Process 6.1 (2004): 79+. General OneFile. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Signet Classics, 1947. Print Nedhari, Aza. 2009. "In Search of Manhood: The Black Male's Struggle for Identity and Power." Student Pulse Academic Journal 1.11. Retrieved from: http://www.studentpulse.com/a?id=32 Smith, Vern E. "'My duty is to point out the wrong and the evil.'." Newsweek 30 Oct. 1995: 36. General OneFile. Web. 23 Apr. 2011. Walker, Juliet E.K. "Racism, slavery, and free enterprise: black entrepreneurship in the United States before the Civil War." Business History Review 60 (1986): 343+. General OneFile. Web. 23 Apr. 2011.

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