Self-Identity In Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man

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Society makes it hard for one to truly know who they are. The media and the dominant class tells others how they should dress and how they should act, making it hard for one to truly be themselves. In Ralph Ellison, “The Invisible Man,” he shows how in the 1920s to 1930s, it was hard for a young black male to know who he really was because others was always judging and looking down on them. The readers of this novel witness the narrator struggle with his self-identity because of his race and his character as a human being. The narrator endured plenty of hate, struggle and pain in an effort of trying to find himself. He had to endure disrespect from not only white people, but African Americans as well. The narrator was too busy trying to please others that he fell to figure out who he was.
Ellison begins his book with the narrator in his present life where he see himself as invisible. The use of invisibility in this book is not used to mean that the narrator cannot physically be seen, but that no one cares enough about him to pay attention to him due to the color of his skin. The narrator shares that he lives in the basement of an apartment building where he lives for free and steals electricity from the upper class white people. Though he feels invisible to the outside world he sleeps with tons …show more content…
This allows the book to be a universally read book because the book does not just targets race, but also deals with self- identity. Everyone no matter race, gender or sexuality struggles with self-identity at one point in their life. Some of the instance in the book could be something that the readers can relate to. Everyone at one point in life experience difficulties at work or feel like they are invisible. This book can be an eye opener for those who have yet to find themselves and are like the Narrator living life in a way that pleases other but they have yet to
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