Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Ellison: Invisible Man
Obviously the time period in which Ellison wrote Invisible Man was in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement of African Americans. But looking a little closer into history, this novel was published just before the first big milestone for African Americans in regards to racial segregation. (In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education, that establishing seperate public schools for blacks and whites was unconstitutional.) So, I believe that most African Americans, at the time Ellison was writing this, felt so oppressed that they were invisible to the white man. However, I was under the impression that this was a non-violent time period, yet the narrator seems to be somewhat violent at the beginning of the prologue. When Chapter 1 begins, he mentions his grandparents and how they lived so timidly, meaning they never stood up for what they believed in. I find it kind of disturbing that "separate but equal" was the how Americans saw the racial divide.
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Ralph seemed to be good at getting peoples attention on issues that pertained to African American difficulties in America. He was all about civil rights, equality, and respect. He would say that to expect something to be brought to you is to already fail at life. He was hell bent on bringing ignorant Americans to understand African American culture, ideas, and mentality. If i saw Ralph Ellison on the street giving a speech about his passions, I would listen with upmost attention because his thinking was the kind of thinking like that would help to undo the racist framework of early America. People like Ellison are the most important types of thinkers because he strives for unconditional equality and love between all men and women. If I could speak to him I would tell him that I stand not by my country but by all of the people of the entire world.
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