Racial Struggles & Identity Crisis: Ralph Ellison's 1930s

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The 1930’s were a tumultuous time in regards to the relationship between white and black citizens in the United States. Black folk in the country had their freedom for some time now, but they were still struggling to have many of the civil liberties which they still sought. Despite the significant strides that black citizens had made in the country, race relations still proved to be a major problem of the time period. Ralph Ellison, in his book Invisible Man, writes about the way black people were living in the 1930’s and the hardships they endured as they sought greater equality. Furthermore, Ellison comments on not only the prejudice that black citizens experienced, but also the lack of identity that arose from it. Ellison tells this story …show more content…

While the vet never says either word directly, he does say “you’re hidden right out in the open-that is, you would be if you only realized it. They wouldn’t see you because they don’t expect you to know any-thing , since they believe they’ve taken care of that” (154), The vet is saying how the white men would not see him if he realized how to hide from them. In essence, he could be invisible and they would be blind to him. This idea of social invisibility is a key premise of the novel, and it is fueled by the motifs of blindness and sight, which are alluded to in the passage. Furthermore, all of the symbols encompassed in this passage helps to create Ellison’s theme of identity in the novel. In Invisible Man, the narrator struggles to differentiate his own perception of himself from that of society. This can be perceived as Ellison making a comment about the double consciousness that W.e.b Dubois coined, believing that African Americans always had two cultures that made up their identity , and they constantly struggled to find a balance between these cultures. In the passage, the vet is trying to tell the narrator the way in which he can find his identity. This again shows the significant foreshadowing that occurs in this passage as the veteran is telling the narrator things he will later come to learn for

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