Theme Of Invisible Man And On The Road

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Recommended: Characterization In Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road are drastically disparate texts, from theme and tone to content and narrative style. Invisible Man deals with the treatment of black people, while On the Road deals with friends abandoning responsibility to travel America. However, despite these differences these texts share one theme in common. Both texts represent the American Dream as being unattainable for certain people, Invisible Man argues that the traditional American Dream is unattainable for African Americans, which On the Road agrees with subtly through its depictions of minorities. In addition to this, they both share depictions of a postmodern world in which the protagonists have been alienated in some way, Invisible …show more content…

This is shown in the tension between the narrator and his grandfather’s ideals, who while understanding that the dream is not for black people, still believed that the best way to go about life was to, "overcome 'em with yeses, undermine 'em with grins, agree 'em to death and destruction, let 'em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open" (16), or in other words to try and beat them at the American way of life. However, the narrator constantly struggles with what his grandfather meant when he told him this, and while attempting to follow his advice he inevitably finds himself being discriminated against. Further, once the narrator begins to work at Liberty Paints he recognizes what the American Dream is for African Americans, to be underground and unrecognized despite having borderline built the framework for the business. Once the narrator understands what is in store for him if he continues down this path, he lashes out against the symbolic representative of the African American Dream, Lucius Brockway. Following this confrontation is the personal rejection of the American Dream, he joins the Brotherhood. Joining the Brotherhood, as it is allegorical for communist groups of the time therefore, represents a direct personal rejection of American …show more content…

On the Road places more emphasis on the personal rejection of the dream, while Invisible Man sets out to show and discuss how African Americans are marginalized in society, and how they are therefore disallowed from participating in the same dream that whites are. That is not to say however, that the texts do not deal with the other side, On the Road, distinctly deals with the idea of minorities lacking the ability to have the same dream as whites, and Sal is the embodiment of this idea. As well, Invisible Man shows the narrator’s personal rejection of the American Dream after realizing that he is simply being kept running in

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