Metaphors In The Invisible Man

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Many people are invisible to society, not literally, but metaphorically. People are perceived by their race, gender, religion, social status, and many other differences. They aren’t seen for who they are on the inside and what they actually have to contribute to society. The Invisible Man By Ralph Ellison is a story about a man of African American race who wants to be seen for who he is and not his race. The whole book is full of symbolism and metaphors about being invisible to society, inequality, the difficulty for blacks to earn money, and how the blacks are controlled by whites. All of which relates to stereotypes in society. In the book, the protagonist describes himself as being literally invisible to people, even though he isn’t. He never says his real name and is never given one throughout the entirety of the book. The metaphor behind the protagonists invisibility is that his physical body isn't invisible to others, but who he is as a person is invisible to society. The color of his skin makes him invisible to others. He wants people to see him for who he is and not because of the color of his skin. …show more content…

The toy has prominent, big, red lips that quarters can be inserted through. When the quarters are collected by the black figurine it becomes joyful, this is a form of symbolism because even though it only gets quarters as a reward it still has to act happy. This reminded him alot of what his grandfather had told him, to fake a smile. The protagonist did not want to move forward with life by just having to fake a smile, so he disliked this toy very much. He would always try and break it to get rid of it, but everytime it is returned back to him. This is another symbol showing how blacks can't get rid of

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