The Power Of Music In Louis Armstrong's Invisible Man

1138 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Jazz impact on African Americans

Throughout history, music has been essential by utilizing music to communicate, build communities, and empower people of all kinds. Whether it’s Rap, Rock N’ Rock, or Country, music defines who we are as a person and identifying who we are as people in society. While on a search for identity by the anonymous narrator, a black man, who is struggling to work out who he is in a setting of racism and where many people have so many ideas of what it means to be a black man, the protagonist in Invisible Man defines himself as “Invisible.” By analyzing use of Jazz and Blues and rhythms and motifs, Invisible Man develops the protagonist, speech intonations, and narrative riffs. The protagonist deals with internal conflict by being unsure of …show more content…

The power of music is a strong component of people’s life; and in the black community, Jazz was born. The upbeat tunes of Jazz music, characterized by improvisation, syncopation, and a lively, strong rhythm, introduced during the Harlem Renaissance, the African-American artistic and literary movement. Jazz music somehow typified the nonconformist aspirations of youth that dominated the shocking new fashions and lifestyles that emerged during the 1920 's "Jazz Age.” In Invisible Man, the protagonist has quite a passion for Louis Armstrong’s music. “Invisibility, let me explain, gives one a slightly different sense of time, you’re never quite on that beat. Sometimes you’re ahead and sometimes behind. Instead of a swift and imperceptible flowing of time, you are aware of its nodes, those points where time stands or from which it leaps ahead. And you slip into the breaks and you look around. That’s what you hear vaguely in Louis’ music” (Ellison, 8). The protagonist’s explanation of Armstrong’s music shows the connection between Jazz and invisibility. The use of Louis Armstrong into the novel is to complement the narrator’s quest to define himself. “Perhaps I like Louis Armstrong because he makes poetry out of being invisible. I think it must be because he’s unaware that he is invisible. And my own grasp of invisibility aids me to understand his music” (Ellison, 8). Unawareness of one’s invisibility leads to great art, but awareness of invisibility leads to comprehension. The swinging tunes of Jazz continue to dominate until the end of the novel to enable the narrator to realize what identity is for

Show More
Related

  • The Symbolic Function of the Sambo Doll in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man

    984 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1952, Ralph Ellison published the only novel of his career: Invisible Man; telling the story of an unnamed “invisible” narrator. Early on, the narrator delineates his invisibility to “people refus[ing] to see [him];” society neglects to see him as a result of his black lineage (Ellison 3). Ellison incorporates several objects, frequently appearing and reappearing throughout the novel, to expose social and intellectual issues imposed on the black community. Amid the “procession of tangible, material objects” moving “in and out of the text” is the dancing Sambo doll whose purpose is to symbolically represent cruel stereotypes and the destructive power of injustice that blacks fall victim to (Lucas 172). Ellison’s rendering of the small paper dolls, representing obedient black slaves, “unveils an astonishing correspondence between the past and the present” and functions as a force to the narrator’s most essential consciousness of his environment and identity (Lucas 173). The Sambo, whose sole purpose was to entertain the white community, further functions to symbolize, through its stereotype, the power whites have to control the movements of African Americans.

    Read More

  • The Invisible Man's Identity

    2067 Words  | 5 Pages

    Upon opening Ralph Waldo Ellison’s book The “Invisible Man”, one will discover the shocking story of an unnamed African American and his lifelong struggle to find a place in the world. Recognizing the truth within this fiction leads one to a fork in its reality; One road stating the narrators isolation is a product of his own actions, the other naming the discriminatory views of the society as the perpetrating force infringing upon his freedom. Constantly revolving around his own self-destruction, the narrator often settles in various locations that are less than strategic for a man of African-American background. To further address the question of the narrator’s invisibility, it is important not only to analyze what he sees in himself, but more importantly if the reflection (or lack of reflection for that matter) that he sees is equal to that of which society sees. The reality that exists is that the narrator exhibits problematic levels of naivety and gullibility. These flaws of ignorance however stems from a chivalrous attempt to be a colorblind man in a world founded in inequality. Unfortunately, in spite of the black and white line of warnings drawn by his Grandfather, the narrator continues to operate on a lost cause, leaving him just as lost as the cause itself. With this grade of functioning, the narrator continually finds himself running back and forth between situations of instability, ultimately leading him to the self-discovery of failure, and with this self-discovery his reasoning to claim invisibility.

    Read More

  • False Identity in Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

    1810 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man, one of Ellison’s greatest assets is his ability to bestow profound significance upon inanimate objects. During the narrator’s journey from the bar to the hole, he acquires a series of objects that signify both the manifestations of a racist society, as well as the clues he employs to deconstruct his indoctrinated identity. The narrator’s briefcase thereby becomes a figurative safe in his mind that can only be unlocked by understanding the true nature of the objects that lie within. Thus, in order to realize who he is, the narrator must first realize who he is not: that unreal man whose name is written in Jack’s pen, or the forcibly grinning visage of Mary’s bank.

    Read More

  • Ralph Ellison's Battle Royal

    1162 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this passage, Ellison reveals the identity crisis faced by not only the Invisible Man, but by the entire African American race as well. He builds on this theme as he follows the I.M. through his life experiences.... ... middle of paper ... ...by very carefully executing his point of view, thereby giving the modern day reader a clear concept of the problem.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Double Consciousness In Invisible Man

    2661 Words  | 6 Pages

    When a party guest stereotypes Invisible Man and asks him to sing a “spiritual” he disrespects and de-legitimizes the artistry and cultural heritage of African-Americans. This points to a larger issue in the novel of how one utilizes one’s heritage for identity purposes and how the de-legitimizing of vernacular forms of expression through stereotyping can alienate one’s self from its own history and

    Read More

  • The Paper Motif in Invisible Man

    798 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man depicts a realistic society where white people act as if black people are less than human. Ellison uses papers and letters to show the narrator’s poor position in this society.

    Read More

  • Invisible Race and Gender in Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison

    2387 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the unnamed narrator shows us through the use motifs and symbols how racism and sexism negatively affect the social class and individual identity of the oppressed people. Throughout the novel, the African American narrator tells us the story of his journey to find success in life which is sabotaged by the white-dominated society in which he lives in. Along his journey, we are also shown how the patriarchy oppresses all of the women in the novel through the narrator’s encounters with them.

    Read More

  • Themes and Motifs in The Invisible Man by Ralph Elison

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the unnamed narrator shows us, through the use motifs such as blindness and invisibility and symbols such as women, the sambo doll, and the paint plant, how racism and sexism negatively affect the social class and individual identity of the oppressed people. Throughout the novel, the African American narrator tells us the story of his journey to find success in life which is sabotaged by the white-dominated society in which he lives in. Along his journey, we are also shown how the patriarchy oppresses all of the women in the novel.

    Read More

  • Invisible Man

    848 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel, The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the narrator of the story, like Siddhartha and Antonius Blok, is on a journey, but he is searching to find himself. This is interesting because the narrator is looking for himself and is not given a name in the book. Like many black people, the narrator of the story faces persecution because of the color of his skin. The journey that the narrator takes has him as a college student as well as a part of the Brotherhood in Harlem. By the end of the book, the narrator decides to hide himself in a cellar, thinking of ways he can get back at the white people. However, in the novel, the man learns that education is very important, he realizes the meaning of his grandfather’s advice, and he sees the importance of his “invisibility.” Through this knowledge that he gains, the narrator gains more of an identity.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Ralph Ellison's 'Invisible Man Prologue'

    1151 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his inner struggles for existence and the need to be seen, he takes actions to be notice. For example, in his place he had manage to install and light up 1,369 light bulbs with the electricity he is steeling, he claims “Perhaps you’ll think it strange an invisible man should need light, desire light, love light. But maybe it is because I am invisible. Lights confirms my reality, gives birth to my form.”(Paragraph #14) “The truth is the light and light is the truth.”(Paragraph #16) If you really where okay with being invisible you would have not be attracting that much attention by lighting all your space so that you are not even invisible to the blindest. In a way, by the lighting up of all of those bulbs he is hoping that the light will actually not let him go unseen. It would be really hard for anyone to miss him under so much light, it would be merely impossible to not be visible. Something else he does is listen to Louis Armstrong singing “What did I do to be so Black and Blue.” He has one radio-phonograph which he finds not to be enough since he wants five in total. He claims he likes to feel the vibration of the music playing in his whole body and would love to play all five radios at the same time in sync and see how they feel. “You hear this music simply because music is heard and seldom seen.” (Paragraph #22) In a way the music vibration reminds him that he is physically present and can actually feel sensations like any human could. Also is interesting the title of the song he chooses to play, as if looking for an answer to his current situation and somehow the song will do just that. And with music you just have to feel and hear not necessarily see anything with your

    Read More

  • The Invisible Man

    934 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ralph Ellison speaks of a man who is “invisible” to the world around him because people fail to acknowledge his presence. The author of the piece draws from his own experience as an ignored man and creates a character that depicts the extreme characteristics of a man whom few stop to acknowledge. Ellison persuades his audience to sympathize with this violent man through the use of rhetorical appeal. Ethos and pathos are dominant in Ellison’s writing style. His audience is barely aware of the gentle encouragement calling them to focus on the “invisible” individuals around us. Ralph Ellison’s rhetoric in, “Prologue from The Invisible Man,” is effective when it argues that an individual with little or no identity will eventually resort to a life of aimless destruction and isolation.

    Read More

  • Invisible Man Research Paper

    689 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although seemingly a very important aspect of Invisible Man, the problems of blacks are not the sole concern of the novel. Instead, these problems are used as a vehicle for beginning the novel a...

    Read More

  • Racism and Identity in Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man

    2213 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Ralph Ellison’s novel The Invisible man, the unknown narrator states “All my life I had been looking for something and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was…I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself the question which I, and only I, could answer…my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself. But first I had to discover that I am an invisible man!” (13). throughout the novel, the search for identity becomes a major aspect for the narrator’s journey to identify who he is in this world. The speaker considers himself to be an “invisible man” but he defines his condition of being invisible due to his race (Kelly). Identity and race becomes an integral part of the novel. The obsession with identity links the narrator with the society he lives in, where race defines the characters in the novel. Society has distinguished the characters in Ellison’s novel between the African and Caucasian and the narrator journey forces him to abandon the identity in which he thought he had to be reborn to gain a new one. Ellison’s depiction of the power struggle between African and Caucasians reveals that identity is constructed to not only by the narrator himself but also the people that attempt to influence. The modernized idea of being “white washed” is evident in the narrator and therefore establishes that identity can be reaffirmed through rebirth, renaming, or changing one’s appearance to gain a new persona despite their race. The novel becomes a biological search for the self due through the American Negroes’ experience (Lillard 833). Through this experience the unknown narrator proves that identity is a necessary part of his life but race c...

    Read More

  • Jazz in Invisible Man

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    “You can’t touch music—it exists only at the moment it is being apprehended—and yet it can profoundly alter how we view the world and our place in it” (“Preface” 7).1 Music is a form of art enjoyed by millions of people each day. It is an art that has continued through decades and can be seen in many different ways. That is why Ellison chooses to illustrate his novel with jazz. Jazz music in Invisible Man gives feelings that Ellison could never explain in words. In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, the narrator’s search for his identity can be compared to the structure of a jazz composition.

    Read More

  • Invisible Man Essay: Identity and Invisibility

    1163 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Langman, F. H. & Co., Inc. The "Reconsidering Invisible Man" The Critical Review. 18 (1976) 114-27. Lieber, Todd M. "Ralph Ellison and the Metaphor of Invisibility in Black Literary Tradition." American Quarterly.

    Read More

More about The Power Of Music In Louis Armstrong's Invisible Man

Open Document