Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Stereotypical Invisibility

After finishing Invisible Man, the deepest thoughts I had made were based upon connections to other novels or works, the significance of the title and the attention to detail called upon by the ambiguous symbols used in the novel. Throughout numerous Socratic seminars, Dave and I bantered upon the connection from Invisible Man to Inferno by Dante Alighieri. In Inferno, Dante passes through the nine circles of hell, including lust, heresy, treachery and even that of Limbo. In his journey, he describes the violent and treacherous journey through his sin to eventual reach a place of renewal and redemption. One of the most prominent circles that can be related to Invisible Man, I especially  recognized a connection to that of Limbo. In Inferno, Limbo is the first circle, meant for those who did not accept Christ but also did not sin. In his examination of the narrator, Ellison often displayed the narrator's inability to break from those hindrances whether it be people from his past or symbols such as coins or the briefcase. The Inferno explained the inability to think rationally because those there hadn't been baptized through Jesus Christ, born with the same knowledge that they came into the world with. Also in the novel, Ellison often referred to the title's double entendre. In the prologue, it seems as though the narrator is set up as physically invisible, to the extent where he cannot be seen at all. Yet in the novel, the narrator describes himself as trying to develop his identity. He seeks to rise up the society dominated by whites. He works with the paint company and places like the college to develop his nature to become like Bledsoe who we as readers understand as a conformist to the larger idea of society. He is undermined constantly by those he chooses to associate with, losing that source of personal identity. Finally, by use of the motifs and symbols such as the Sambo doll or the coins, Ellison showed the inability of the narrator to escape the stereotypes. He was challenged by the Sambo doll as it is placed to mock the simplicity and "Jim Crow" nature of the black society. His friend Clifton was murdered in cold blood while he sold the Sambo dolls, fitting in with the stereotypical black man. Death was the only escape from the world for Clifton. Even more stimulating, the cop was white, reminding me of the poem where the emphasis was to pray for the officer who killed the black man for what seemed to be no reason. In terms of the coins, Ellison shows the falsity that follows the narrator. The coins provide a possible opportunity for the narrator to escape from his placement among the black society, offering him a chance to attend a university and learn. Yet each time he fails or succeeds, the coins are present. They act as a hindrance but also as a false opportunity to rise up in the world. The narrator is unable to free himself from the branded stereotypes, guiding his eventual descent back into his "home."