"Invisible" Dilemma of the African Americans

 --Analysis on "Invisible Man"

In Invisible Man, the American black novelist Ralph Ellison displays the protagonist’s journey to seek his own ethnic culture and to establish his identity. To establish his cultural identity, he has experienced three periods from being confused and evasive to being awakened and ready to accept to being suddenly enlightened and integrated. His attitude towards his own ethnic culture and his acknowledgement of his own identity has also undergone rejection, escaping and final integration. The significance of constructing the cultural identity of black people is to accept his own ethnic culture and this is also embodied in his ethnic culture and history.

The protagonist

The protagonist of Invisible Man is an American black youth who has no name. Name is the most basic cultural symbols of social individuals. The hero’s nameless has a profound implication: it is a metaphor for all the blacks in the American society; what’s more, it also indicates that the hero is a person who lacks self-identity. The way he seeks self-identity is very special, “I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer.”

“I” was born in the conservative south, ”I” have been trying to meet the whites’ will, forging myself according to the whites’ value. When “I” was praised for my conduct ”I” felt a guilt that in some way ”I” was doing something that was really against the wishes of the white folks, that if they had understood they would have desired me to act just the opposite, that ”I” should have been sulky and mean, and that that really would have been what they wanted, even though they were fooled and thought they wanted me to act as ”I” did. It made me afraid that some day they would look upon me as a traitor and”I” would be lost. On my graduation day”I” delivered an oration in which”I” showed that humility was the secret, indeed, the very essence of progress. It was a great success. Everyone praised me and”I” was invited to give the speech at a gathering of the town’s leading white citizen. But, when he got there he discovered that it was on the occasion of a smoker, and he was told that since he was to be there anyway he might as well take part in the battle royal to be fought by some of his schoolmates as part of the entertainment. He found that the whites did not in the least care about the content and success of his lecture; they got together for the sheer joy of entertainment. However, the ten blacks, including him, were their doll. At first, the whites teased their desire by making a stark naked girl dancing before their eyes, then, forced them to fight each other blindfolded. ”Blindfolded, I could no longer control my motions. I had no dignity. I stumbled about like a baby or a drunken man.” Everyone fought hysterically. Every black fought bruised, dripping with blood. On the contrary, watching their fight, every white was shouting, screaming over-excited. Then again, these poor youths were made to grab coins on a carpet which had been electrified. The hair bristled up on their heads, their muscles jumped, their nerves jangled, writhed. However, the men roared above them as they struggled. When he finally gave his speech, his mouth was filled up with blood from the cut. In spite of this, he stated again the social responsibility of the blacks. The whites were just talking and laughing. In the end,”I” was awarded a brief case and a scholarship to the state college for Negroes. My eyes filled with tears and I ran awkwardly off the floor.

When he became a black student, he happened to make the president, Mr. Norton, witness a disgraceful scene in the Negroes school. Because of this, he had been teased by Bledsoe mercilessly from that on. However, he gradually came to know that he was an “invisible man”, a person who had been ignored by others. Therefore, he dreamed to seek himself and his personal value in the society.

In order to realize this dream,”I” set foot on the course to the North with full wish to get rid of the fate of slavery. ”I” came to Harlem, the well known capital of African Americans. But, every experience here made me realized that”I” had been always deprived, controlled and made use of by different forces. For the purpose of supporting myself,”I” got a job in a paint factory with the help of Emerson, a white man. Yet,”I” fell into suspicion and exclusion of both the whites and the blacks. Finally”I” fell into unconsciousness in the explosion and became a patient in the hospital. What the doctors considered first was not whether”I” was still alive, but the social interests of the whites. Therefore,”I” couldn’t resist but received the cranial frontal lobe brain surgery which has severe damage to memory. ”I” forgot who”I” am, where”I” came from, even,”I” didn’t remember who my mother is. The doctors asked him again and again about who was the bear rabbit. This myth originated from black culture made the protagonist suddenly came to know that his own fate was like the fate of the rabbit in the myth—teased by the whites, chased by destiny.

”I” saw an old black couple evicted from their home, ”I”I rushed out and give a speech, which advocated the angry crowd to have a conflict with the white officials and police. My ability attracted the attention of an organization—Brotherhood. They recruited me to be the advocator in the Harlem area. ”I” felt I regained myself somehow. But”I” soon discovered that the heads were unknowledgeable and their backgrounds were suspicious. ”I” was entangled into the fight between Brotherhood and a group of black nationalists. Usually,”I” was forced to hide here and there. Once”I” hid up in a grocery store and disguised myself with a pair of sunglasses and a wide-brimmed white hat. Unexpectedly, immediately”I” became Mr. Reinhardt, obtaining multiple identities including rogue, gambler, lover and minister. This caused my deep thought: Who on earth am”I”? What is my identity?

In a riot provoked by Ras,”I” fell into a deep hole. ”I” burned the only papers”I” had to make a torch. These papers were records of my background and identity. In this way,”I” lost all statues, becoming a person who had no name, no surname, no roots, and an invisible man. ”I”I tried uncountable times to be a real man, but in vain. ”I” could only move ahead or stay here, underground. So”I” would stay here until I was chased out. Here, at least,”I” could try to think things out in peace, or if not in peace, in quiet. ”I” would take up residence underground. The protagonist narrate the whole story with a humorous, mocking tone, expressing my resentment and frustration towards this “invisible” dilemma, accusing the oppression and devastation the whites exerted on the blacks.

President of the college for Negroes—Bledsoe

Bledsoe was a representative of a group of people who have recognized the cruel reality of the society, controlled their impulse well, and took an opportunistic approach to seek their “American Dreams”. The president of the college for Negroes was the example of everything the protagonist hoped to be: influential with wealthy men all over the country; consulted in matters concerning the race; a leader of his people; the possessor of not one, but two Cadillacs, a good salary and a soft, good-looking and creamy-complexioned wife. What’s more, while black and bald and everything white folks poked fun at, he had achieved power and authority; had, while black and wrinkle-headed, made himself of more importance in the world than most Southern white men. They could laugh at hi but they couldn’t ignore him.

To the whites, Bledsoe approached white visitors too often with his hat in hand, bowing humbly and respectfully. He refused to eat in the dining hall with white guests of the school, entering only after they had finished and then refusing to sit down, but remaining standing, his hat in his hand, while he addressed them eloquently, then leaving with a humble bow. In no time, he showed obedience and humbleness toward the whites. He won the trust of the whites and the status and power in a society dominated by the white at the sacrifice of his own dignity and personality. To his siblings, the blacks, he has a double-image. One was a kind educator, or leader, to improve his prestige and influence; another was a cold and merciless president, he called blacks the same way as the whites—“nigger”. When I happened to make Mr. Norton see some disgraceful scene, Bledsoe immediately expelled him from the college without hesitation. He inspired in everyone on the campus the admiration and fear. The pictures in the Negro press captioned “EDUCATOR”, a type that exploded like a rifle shot, his face looking out at the students with utmost confidence. To the students, he was more than just a president of a college. He was a leader, a “statesman” who carried their problems to those above them, even unto the White House. He was their leader and their magic, who kept the endowment high, the funds for scholarships plentiful and publicity moving through the channels of the press. He was their coal-black daddy of whom they were afraid.

Although Bledsoe himself was a black, he never treat his black siblings as the same human beings as himself. Especially the protagonist, Bledsoe teased him just like a doll. When the protagonist was expelled from the school, Bledsoe pretended to be kind, giving him some letters to some of the school’s friends to get him a job. These letters were sealed, Bledsoe told him not to open them, saying that white folk are strict about such things. ”The letters will introduce you and request them to help you with a job. I’ll do my best for you and it isn’t necessary for you to open them, understand? ” Mr. Bledsoe said in a pretentious tone. With a grateful heart,”I” set my way to spread these letters; in return”I” received polite refusals by their secretaries. In my visit to the last person, Mr. Emerson, I finally came to know why”I” had failed in all the jobs”I” applied. The secret lay in these letters. The letter to Mr. Emerson goes like this,” The bearer of this letter is a former student of ours (I say former because he shall never, under any circumstances, be enrolled as a student her again) who has been expelled for a most serious defection from our strictest rules of deportment. …” The split personality and dark psychological state of Bledsoe revealed his uncertainty about his own ethnic origin and identity.

Because of the contradictory humanity and split personality, Bledsoe belongs neither to the whites nor to the blacks. He was a black, docile slave in the eyes of the whites, not to mention humanity and personality. In the eyes of the blacks, he betrayed his own race and family, therefore, his soul no longer belongs to blacks. Thus, Bledsoe was a person who had been expelled from both the white world and the black world. He belongs to nowhere. So, in essence, he is invisible. This invisibility also came from various stresses in the white society. The stresses made a black gradually lose his dignity, personality, human nature in the fight for a room in the society. And at last, he was reduced to a soulless, “invisible” man.

An old slave of the whites— Lucius Brockway

For several decades, Brockway stayed underground and made paint for the whites, willing to be an unknown painter. The working place of Brockway was a deep basement. Three levels underground as one pushed upon a heavy metal door marked “Danger” and descended into a noisy, dimly lit room. The first impression Brockway gave the protagonist was a small, wiry and very natty man in his dirty overalls. And as ”I” approached him ”I” saw his drawn face and the cottony white hair showing beneath his tight, striped engineer’s cap. Running the rag over a gauge”I” wondered how an apparently uneducated old man could gain such a responsible job. He certainly didn’t sound like an engineer; yet he alone was on duty. And you could never be sure, for at home an old man employed as a janitor at the Water Works was the only one who knew the location of all of the water mains. He had been employed at the beginning, before any records were kept, and actually functioned as an engineer though he drew a janitor’s pay. Despite the poor working conditions in the basement, he worked hard, mindlessly, without any complaint. He help his white boss invented the “Optic White Paint” technology, which was something made exclusively for the government. There was a slogan about this paint which goes like this,” If it’s optic white, it’s the right white. ” Ironically, when the protagonist heard this slogan, he suddenly had to repress a laugh as a childhood jingle rang through his mind,” If you’re white, you are right.” Although Brockway worked for the whites at the sacrifice of his own youth and energy, the white boss didn’t show any kindness to him because of his reverence, obedience and creativity. To the white, people like Brockway could not even be called as”human”. At most, he was a tool, one part of the machine by which the white could make profit. What’s more convenient was that he could be replaced or deserted at any time when the white could no longer extract anything from him.

People like Brockway had always dreamed of integrating into the white society. Undoubtedly, they were refused. Therefore, they lived in fear and worry, but they themselves refused to go with the blacks. They were even hostile to those blacks who wanted to fight for their due rights. For fear of losing his own job, Brockway even deliberately created a boiler explosion. In this way, the protagonist got seriously injured, and forgot everything about himself. The whites ignore Brockway’s presence. However, Brockway abandoned himself outside the black community. Thus, Brockway, who was discarded by both the whites and the blacks, fell into an “invisible” dilemma.

Causes of the”Invisible” dilemma of the African Americans

Thinking about the existing phenomenon in American that the blacks were oppressed and discriminated in the society, Ralph Ellison firmly denied the so-called “ethnic deference argument”. He pointed out that this phenomenon was acquired, not natural. After all, it is the construction of social and cultural factors.( John Heizey,1974) Through the description of the tragic and absurd experiences of the protagonist, Invisible Man also explains two causes of the invisible dilemma of the African Americans.

When Ralph Ellison created invisible man, the world was stepping into the mid-20^th century. Material civilization was developing rapidly in America at that time. More and more people began to pay attention to problems concerning humanity. This may seemed to be good news to the blacks. Blacks were endowed the right to receive education, students who performed well could go to the college for Negroes to further their study. What’s more, some groups and organizations appeared to protect the basic rights the blacks and uphold justice for the blacks. However, all these did not change the discriminated and oppressed destiny of the blacks radically. Instead, the discrimination and oppression became more subtle, converting from physical torture to ignoring their existence. The leader of the Brotherhood in Invisible Man, Jack, was mild and respectful to the blacks, hoping to struggle for equality and rights for them on the surface. But actually, he was the same as the whites in the southern towns. He wished to change the blacks to people totally shaped and controlled by him.

In the American society, the black cultural values exist side by side with the white cultural values. They influenced and conflicted with each other. On the one hand, because they had higher social statues and stronger political rights than the blacks, the whites had been superior and in the leading place in the cultural conflict. They used every means to realize their control over the blacks. On the other hand, in order to be recognized by the whites, black people accepted the dominance of white culture. This dominance finally led to the loss of soul and personality, the blacks fell into an “invisible” dilemma.

Self-reliant road of the African Americans

As a contemporary American black writer, Ellison inevitably expressed his opinions through the experiences of a black. In this way, he exposed his own thinking about social and political ideals. As to how black people were treated in a society dominated by the whites, Ellison made a vivid description in the novel. For example, the last step in making the “optic white” paint is measuring ten drops of black paint into the white paint, to make the white paint more glistening. When the ten drops of black paint drop on the surface and become blacker still, they suddenly spread out to the edges. Using such a metaphor, the author implies the “invisible” dilemma of black people in the society. However, Ellison’s political view was a little different from others’,” He abolished the features of novel, sublimating racial oppression to social oppression.” As to how to walk out of this “invisible” dilemma, Ellison explored deeply in his novel: in order to gain a real equal statue in the society, neither extreme resistance nor excessive yield can do any good. A black who can not acknowledge his own value can not be called as a complete American. Likewise, a white who can not accept black people can not be called a complete American, either. The aim of mixing the white with the black is making both of them fully developed. Thus both can make a contribution to the “melting pot”.

Conclusion

Invisible Man is a story about how the protagonist found national culture of the blacks and how he established his own identity. There are three stages in his exploration of his cultural identity: confusion, awakening and enlighten. As to his attitude towards black culture, at first he excluded it, then fled from it, and finally he accepted it and integrated into black culture. This harsh journey fully explained that the essence of the construction of black cultural identity lies in accepting his national culture. The essence of self-identity resides in the nation’s history and culture.

To conclude, I would like to quote the expression of the protagonist in the last part of the novel, “I” lived in the basement, and people still can not see me. It seemed that everything has returned to the starting point. But, it is not really true, after several attempts and various experiences, “I” was no longer the person who was oblivious to the “invisible” predicament, “I” had wakened up, and had my own consciousness. ”I” saw clearly the nature of the society and I abandoned all the illusions. What’s more, “I” had also set my road and direction. The reason for my staying underground was that “I” am waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to go back to play an important role in the society. Therefore, “I” was not a loser, but a promising winner who is preparing to walk out of this “invisible” dilemma and realize my dream.