Summary and Analysis of Invisible Man: Based on the Book by Ralph Ellison
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Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader.
This short summary and analysis of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison includes:
- Historical context
- Chapter-by-chapter summaries
- Detailed timeline of key events in Ralph Ellison’s life
- Analysis of the main characters
- Themes and symbols
- A note on the author’s style
- Important quotes
- Fascinating trivia
- Glossary of terms
- Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work
About Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison:
A 20th-century classic, Invisible Man is the story of a young man’s journey to self-discovery—from growing up black in the post-war South, to being expelled from a Negro college, to moving to Harlem and joining an activist organization called the “Brotherhood,” to disappearing into the city’s underbelly and becoming truly invisible….
More than a commentary on issues of race in America, Invisible Man is an extraordinary story of identity, truth, and what it means to be human in a broken world. Winner of the National Book Award, Invisible Man is no less pertinent today than it was upon its initial publication in 1952.
The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of fiction.
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Summary and Analysis of Invisible Man - Worth Books
Contents
Context
Overview
Cast of Characters
Summary
Timeline
Themes and Symbols
Author’s Style
Direct Quotes and Analysis
Trivia
What’s That Word?
Critical Response
About Ralph Ellison
For Your Information
Bibliography
Copyright
Context
Ralph Ellison’s classic work was published at a unique point in American history. The civil rights era, which ran roughly from 1950 to 1963, was the response to more than 300 years of oppression of people of African origin. The practice of slavery in the American colonies began in 1619, when Africans were brought to Jamestown, Virginia, as indentured servants to work on farms. Through municipal customs, such as wills and deeds, and then by law, slavery emerged as not only an economic force but an institution.
The foundations for racism sit largely with the perception that black people in America were almost exclusively associated with servitude, while white people were associated with power and liberty. People of color, largely from Africa and the surrounding islands, became easier to oppress, for, unlike the indigenous American Indians, they were alienated and prevented from any sort of organizing that would equip them for mass liberation.
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, freeing three million slaves, but the practicalities of living free in America were far more complicated. With nowhere to go and no means of supporting themselves—they didn’t own property—former slaves were legally free, but economically, they were still very much in servitude. By the time the Proclamation was signed, the association of blackness with inferiority was firmly established.
Enter the Jim Crow laws. These laws and social practices were named for a popular white minstrel show performer’s character Jim Crow,
an insidious caricature of a bumbling, obsequious, dimwitted black man. The laws themselves cemented the idea of racial inferiority by actively oppressing blacks. From denying blacks mortgages to access to education, Jim Crow laws created a new form of legal segregation. Despite the ratification of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1868—which granted black men full citizenship, the right to vote, hold public offices, serve on juries, and equal protection under the law—little genuine improvement occurred. African American citizens were both invisible in society and legally discriminated against.
It was in this socio-political environment that Ralph Ellison was raised. Born in 1913 in Oklahoma, the grandson of slaves, Ellison fell in love with music and attended the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama with an eye toward a career as a jazz musician. The Institute, one of the most famous and respected black colleges, served as the model for Ellison’s narrator’s college in Invisible Man.
Ellison moved to Harlem in New York City to earn money to pay his tuition. He began working at the Federal Writers’ Project, which brought him into contact with some of the most formidable writers of the day, including Richard Wright and Langston Hughes. The federal government funded the project as part of the Works Progress Administration, which supported writers and writing. Ellison began publishing articles and reviews, but eventually left to edit the Negro Quarterly for a year before enlisting in the Merchant Marines during World War II.
After the war, Ellison won the Rosenwald fellowship, which supported his writing of Invisible Man. The first chapter was published in the 1948 volume of the Magazine of the Year.
The post-war period, one of triumph and growth for the United States, was one of equally intense oppression for black Americans. From the deep South, where Invisible Man is initially set, to Harlem, a cultural oasis for blacks, Invisible Man holds a mirror up to American racism.
Set in the pre–civil