Invisible Man: Power

Raul Tejada

English Literature B3

Bland

3 December, 2015

Invisible Man: Power

        Ralph Ellison lived in a time where segregation was rampant, and all the power was yielded by the white man. Within his novel, Invisible Man, he meaningfully expresses personal opinions and views over the relation between the community, the self, and power, all characterized by the lack of racial equality in America, through the eyes of the nameless colored narrator.

Invisibility was described as stemming from the racism and lack of understanding which people had towards the Black community. Naturally, one would assume that being socially “invisible” was nothing but oppressive and depreciative. However, the main character finds that remaining unseen is a sort of virtue in disguise, embracing it extensively. Living under the city streets, merely a shell of what was once a budding scholar, he found power in his lack of thereof, using it to in turn take more power from the white man in the form of electricity. In this, Ellison cleverly urges to the reader that self-empowerment is necessary, and that even the lowest of man can be strong if he maintains a sense of self-worth. Otherwise, the “institution” will succeed in its attempts to subordinate an entire race of people.

        Another one of Ellison’s major points is that people are like animals – power hungry and capable of going to extreme lengths for a cusp of it. This is embodied when the narrator is pit against other Black teenagers in a battle royal, which ironically occurs before he delivers his speech about social equality. The young men are reduced to mere beasts running on testosterone and primal instinct – the illusion of power within the fake gold coins thrown at the arena, and the nude woman enticing them with her shape. A community, oppressed as a whole by the white elite, were effectively broken down and turned against each other by him as well. Ellison further exemplifies this primal quality with the electric current running throughout the rug, as the boys remain quarreling with each other, lunging at the coins, risking life and limb for a tiny sliver of power.