Hi Everyone:
Let me start by setting a date for our next meeting: it
looks like the best time will be Friday, August 8th, 8-10 a.m. in
room 2209. There is a chance that the
school will be cleaning out room 2209 at that time, and if so, I will post
something known as a “sign” to redirect you to another room (or utility
closet). The assignment is the same as
last time (see previous post for instructions), only you will focus on chapters
16 to the end. For those ambitious
students who want to look up some of the more oblique allusions in the book, it
may be helpful to do a quick search of The Communist Party in America in the
30s-50s, and it may also be helpful to look up Marcus Garvey. **For those who couldn’t make it to our last
meeting, please remember that you must also comment on these posts with your
own thoughts to contribute to the conversation and I still need your papers
emailed to me.** Finally, let me just remind students to practice making bold assertions in your responses: make sure you
try to nail down why your observations matter.
When you are pointing something out that you notice in your passages,
imagine someone over your shoulder asking “so
what?” And then answer that
person!
In our last meeting I started by reviewing our first meeting
and then moved into a brief but important discussion of literary theory. Mainly, I tried to very quickly describe the
Structuralist movement and the Post-Structuralist (or Post-Modern) movement and
their concerns and values. I talked
about Structuralism as a movement that encompassed literary studies,
linguistics, and other sciences such as anthropology, and then made the point
that the New Criticism movement, which came out of structuralism, is very
closely aligned to what the AP exam values.
Any student that wants to get a good sense of the AP’s general approach
to writing and reading would do well to look into the New Critical movement, I
would argue. Post-Modernism, and its
attendant “lenses” of criticism, was discussed as a reaction to structuralism’s
tendency to centralize and standardize reading and writing, and also as a
reaction to Structuralism’s insistence on de-contextualizing an object of art
from the conditions of its creation. I
suggested that some students may be interested in exploring some of these
lenses as part of their long-term research project in the second half of the
year.
Reactions to Ellison’s Invisible
Man were slow to come at first, but once we started to try to make sense of
the strangeness of the narrative then students felt free to speak. We noted that the narrative is very unusual
in the way that it rides the line between “realism” and “surrealism” in a very
fluid way, creating a kind of hyper-reality in which, as one student put it,
the events of the narrative may seem absurd but they are still “true” to
experience. For instance, a “battle
royal” is unimaginable in “real” world, but what is dramatized in the scene –
the crowd of wealthy white people entertained by the sight of black teens
fighting, the scrambling for money, the mix of barbarism, commerce and sex – is
a kind of amplified version of certain truths in life. So the reader, as one student noted, is
always attentive to symbolism and metaphor, more so than an average novel.
As a group we tried to pull out some of the major threads of
meaning or tension in the book by comparing quotes, and we settled on some
overarching ideas: the problem of identity (how to assert one’s own or how
others try to impose one upon you), the tension between one’s private and
public self, the idea of power-sources being buried within larger structures of
power (invisible or undetected), the idea of cultural equality or individual
wholeness being endlessly deferred (i.e. the Golden Day, “keep him running”),
and the very problematic role of women in the novel, which we did not get a
chance to really talk about. These ideas
become even more complicated in the second half of the book, and I can’t wait
to talk to everyone about them. Next
time, we will try to close read a few passages in order to see how Ellison
structures the book in a way that compliments its major themes. Thank you again to those who came, Mr.
Telles.
Within the first few moments of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man there, as stated above, many wild uses of language emphasized through italics. Armstrong's music in the prologue of Invisible Man used the italics to warp the reader's mind between the reality of the music and the unreal chaos of abstraction underneath. The prologue could be used, though a very hard piece of writing to interpret or judge because of how abstract it is, to map out parts of the book. The Prologue is a point in time where the reader is shown the end, only to travel back to the beginning, to a simpler time, as the protagonist did, while easily listening to Louis Armstrong's Black and Blue. As the story progresses, like the depth of the music, problems and occurrences erupt, such as with the mother and her sons.
ReplyDeleteFreedom is also a highly associated theme laced through the book, for the protagonist's struggle of understanding the world, women's rights (overly sexualizing many women through even the protagonist's eyes), the unions, everyday workers, and the entire concept of what does freedom really mean (this question was stated within the prologue from the mother who loved freedom but lacked the true meaning)?
It is, with this struggle of freedom, that the protagonist fights against his own morals and values through a first person mindset, filled with figurative language to fully convey his thoughts. Yet only the reader can see and interpret the inside of the protagonist's head, which leads to every other character unable to understand him though his own point of view. Instead the characters are only left with their own interpretations (such as with the theme freedom) of what a particular phrase may actually mean. The theme is further extended as, redundant as it is, on many occasions any attempt at expressing a voice of free will from the protagonist he is shut off from any explanation to redeem himself onto continuation of his new life trying to find out his own meaning, such as with his conversation with Lucius Brockway in the paint factory. the Protagonist was given no time to defend himself, which also occurred with Dr. Bledsoe, the vet, the subconscious nagging of his grandfather, etc. The Protagonist lacks freedom, but to the protagonist, what really is freedom?
The biggest issue in the novel is that of identity. I found it frustrating that in the chaos of the narrative and all the influence coming form others around the protagonist like the white people and Dr. Bledsoe it is nearly impossible to find an identity for the main character. His identity is directly linked to his freedom which, is something that he certainly has not gained yet in chapters 1-15.
ReplyDeleteThe authors use of surrealism is a highly effective way of communicating his story because you are in a constant state of horror even though it is a time period you are familiar with. His narratives of that time period are much worse than anything you have heard before. Reading this novel is like riding a wave that will always crash. Anything in the protagonists life that is good eventually goes wrong like his stint at the university then his job at the factory. This theme is reiterated by the knowledge of where he ends up.
Especially upon the protagonist’s arrival in New York City, I found the juxtaposition of internal and external observations to be very intriguing. The constant vivid imagery of the city, in all its dreariness and glory, became a character to an extent. The other people he passed on the street helped to construct this character, and description of their indifference or friendliness complicated the city’s identity, just as the protagonist constantly complicates his own cryptic identity. The singing man with the cart that joined him for a block provided an example of the comfort that was hidden in the city, as the protagonist was not the only black person from the south in a city of whites and northern blacks. Conversely, the repeated image of blank and downturned faces in the streets and on the subways constructed a sense of loneliness and isolation in the city; the city had its bright spots but on the whole it was less than inviting.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the protagonist’s detailed musings and internal conflicts were largely abstract and floating (like all thoughts of course). Rather than the concrete, scientific description of his environment, none of his thoughts were tied to definitions, and indeed many of his thoughts regarded the need for definition: defining himself. The creation of this ultimate internal question is the fuel for each of his internal observations, for he is constantly trying to grasp his own nature in order to ground himself in reality. Yet due to the inability to attach himself to any of the concrete observations of the outside world (originally he does, as a man defined by his college, but upon the severance of that definition he is lost) it almost seems that his quest for an identity is futile. However, I expect it will take one specific event to affirm an identity that he did not realize was building up within him. Though I remain confused and mystified by Ellison’s constant drifts between reality and rumination, I believe it is extremely important in showing how the protagonist’s mind is affected by the events that he describes externally.
The Invisible Man is trapped within a society where he is disconnected, taunted, and tortured. Lacking independence, freedom, and identity, where is he to go? In the book, the protagonist struggles because he is told who to be and when, rather than finding himself over time. He begins just as a doormat because of his racial minority, and then loses his personal identity among stereotypes that the white people pressure him to be for them. At Liberty, he even makes a statement to the reader about the "purity" of their "Optic White" paint color, and the sign entering the building remarks on keeping America pure, with white just so happening to be their purest, finest color. And in the electric chair he realizes his disconnect from himself, not just everyone else, and from my perspective I took this passage to mean that he understands his invisibility to mean that he is lost within a society who doesn't see him for who he truly is, and has blinded him of his identity and taken away any freedom he could have had.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the first fifteen chapters of Invisible Man I noticed the idea that the narrator is never truly tied down to one name. At home he was the intelligent kid in school and in the city he was the black kid who could persuade a crowd with his voice. Meanwhile, not once does he say his name, instead he uses quotes like, “the boy read my name off a card.” (pg 198) Without a name tying him down, the narrator is able to transition from place to place, job to job, home to home, without getting stuck in the past. He is able to push through and grow as a speaker and a person.
ReplyDeleteThe book’s secondary characters add to the plot’s odd turns that almost seem impossible. At the Golden Day it almost seems surreal that these crazy men would suddenly change from one extreme to the next and even come close to killing a man. Then, you stop and think about it and realize that under the conditions of the bar, that could likely happen at anytime. Also, when the narrator takes Mr. Norton to the cabin and they are on the porch listening to the old farmer’s story, it seems to be out of some crazy fictional book, until you begin to think about how the likelihood of that type of event happening is not that low. The events in the book are described in a way that makes them seem crazy, when in fact they could be very real.
I believe that the novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is as much a testament to major faults of the human race as it is a narrative of racial tensions and individual dilemma. The main character in Ellison’s work leads a studious life and chases avidly after his future. He soon comes to realize however, that chasing his future is a futile pursuit and runs repeatedly into twists and turns in his path. I would argue that a primary goal of Ralph Ellison’s work is to demonstrate the inconsequential status of human life. His main character seems to be smoothly progressing through college and into his future life until the strange events of one afternoon change his life entirely. From that point on, each small encounter on his trip could become a potential roadblock or at least divert him to a new direction. He seems to take it mildly, becoming a tool to display the feeble relationship between human life and the world around. From a small meeting with a street officer in Harlem to a street vendors sweet potatoes each event in the main characters life is important and seen at equal strength. Not only is Invisible Man an argument of race equality, it is a study in race futility.
ReplyDeleteThe narrator starts the book out by not knowing who he is and letting others tell him who he should be. At the college, Bledsoe would tell him how to act appropriately around the white trustees, because acting like himself is not good enough (even though is personality may be fine, he actually needs his color to impress the white people) and because he cannot change his skin, he must change his inner self. His living his life being told how to act, what to like, how to feel, where to go and how to breathe. Nothing of himself is truly genuine. The genuine betrayal he feels when he realizes that he is actually never allowed back at the college is devastating. He was trusting in Bledsoe to go away on temporarily, but instead he was fooled into leaving for a lifetime. You do not see the narrator doing something that he genuinely knows in his heart is something that he enjoys himself until he eats yams on the streets of Harlem. They remind him of his childhood, his home, and he does not have to question if this is appropriate to enjoy in public or not. He is in no fear of being embarrassed. The narrator has finally distinguished himself and this is beginning of a blossoming into a new, self aware character who is testing his social boundaries in his new environment.
ReplyDeleteOne of the strangest yet most intriguing themes that drew the novel together was that of dancing between the lines of what is real and what is surreal. The "Battle Royal", however gruesome it was in its own right, was exaggerated and staged to appear as two animals in a ring. The way they were pinned against each other was real, however the savage scene described was intended to create an extravagantly vivid picture of the symbolism of the scene (the boys are seen as animals by the men watching-- which evidently ties into the theme of identity, or in this case, how identities are being thrust upon the characters.) Juxtaposed, there is a very sharp contrast between the gray areas and the narrators assertions that are on point; he is stubborn in the fact that he is being ignored-- he is the invisible man, the world doesn't see him. The narrator believes, very full-heartedly, that this world is not one where he can be seen. There is no in between, some people see him, he teaches some to see, it is simply that he is not seen.
ReplyDelete