What does it mean to feel alone? Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man
Student Questions: Ellison’s Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison
In the epilogue the main character notes if you step outside what men call reality, you step into chaos—or imagination. What is the relation between chaos and imagination?
Is the main character more lonely in isolation underground or when he enters society?
I want to talk about the idea/character of "Rinehart" and how it relates to the other part of the book. How can we find parallels to our own experiences in the narrator's struggles to develop an identity that makes sense to him?
What makes Ellison's narrator invisible?
What is the relationship between his invisibility and other people's blindness--both involuntary and willful?
Is the protagonist's invisibility due solely to his skin color?
Is it only the novel's white characters who refuse to see him?
One drawback of invisibility is that "you ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world" [p. 4]. How does the narrator try to prove that he exists? Does this sentence provide a clue to the behavior of other characters in the book?
What are the narrator's dreams and goals? How are these variously fulfilled or thwarted in the course of the book?
What is the significance of the grandfather's deathbed speech [p.16]? Whom or what has he betrayed? What other characters in this book resort to the same strategy of smiling betrayal?
The narrator's grandfather tells him 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." [p. 16] How does the narrator's interpretation of this advice change during the course of the novel? Do you feel that Dr. Bledsoe shares the grandfather's philosophy? What about Tod Clifton? And what about Rinehart?
Throughout the book the narrator encounters a number of white benefactors, including a millionaire college trustee, an amiable playboy, and the professional agitator Brother Jack. What does the outcome of these relationships suggest about the possibility of friendship or cooperation between the races?
Mr. Norton is "a bearer of the white man's burden," a "symbol of the Great Traditions." [p. 37] How does he personify the paternalistic ethos, for better and for worse?
Invisible Man wonders how the white men of the Brotherhood differ from the trustees of his college. Do they, in fact, differ fundamentally? If so, in what ways?
The town leaders at the battle royal tell the narrator, "We mean to do right by you, but you've got to know your place at all times." [p. 31] What kind of help are the men actually offering? What "place" in the world do they plan for young black people? Is there any real benevolence included in their wish to dominate?
Invisible Man wonders what value personal integrity can have in his cynical world. Does it seem to you that it is possible to retain one's integrity while dealing with the likes of Dr. Bledsoe or Brother Jack? Do any of the book's characters in fact retain their integrity?
What makes Ellison's narrator invisible? What is the relationship between his invisibility and other people's blindness--both involuntary and willful?
Is the protagonist's invisibility due solely to his skin color? Is it only the novel's white characters who refuse to see him?
What is the significance of the grandfather's deathbed speech [p.16]? Whom or what has he betrayed? What other characters in this book resort to the same strategy of smiling betrayal?
