Invisible

Often times throughout life one feels distanced and afar off from those around him. In our plight for self discovery we each are individually acted upon until we find our own potential or meaning in life. In many ways one can relate with Ralph Ellison’s, “Invisible Man,” as it portrays a man who although a man feels that he is unseen and unheard.
In the introduction of the man who is invisible states, “ I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movies ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids- and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” With this opening line we learn that the invisible man is not invisible physically, but is made so by his associations around him. The invisible man happens to be black, and being black he has been overlooked by the masses and therefore has become invisible to everyone around him and often times to himself.
It can be hard to imagine the emotions he must have felt being black and having to face many of the prejudices around him. Although I am not black there are certain aspects of the invisible man’s feelings that many can relate to. We are all unique and have at least at some point had the desire to be seen or heard. If you have ever been avoided, outcast, or brushed aside many of the words that the invisible man has to say have a little more meaning.
It turns out that the invisible man has intellect and amond the many desires he has one is to attend college. We learn this desire as we witness the savage event of the white upper-class place several blacks into an all out, all for one, fight for survival, as they bit them against each other in a fight. The event is called “Battle Royal,” and it is one in which all the blacks are blindfolded and forced to fight amongst themselves till two are left standing. One important point to note is that the invisible man in the story thought he had come to the event to deliver a speech and came to find out that only after having been humiliated was he allowed by the whites to give his speech. After a grueling and demoralizing battle in the ring the invisible man gives his speech and is awarded a full scholarship to a Negro College. Amongst the other feelings that the invisible man had elation set in as he claimed his prize.
The invisible man is one who at least in some ways we can all relate to. I’m not comparing schoolyard pecking orders to racism and prejudice, but the symbolism involved with being invisible and the implications that arise from the stories told by the invisible man offer us a glimpse into his life and allow us to see some part of the sufferings he had to go through.