Lesson Seven
Invisible Man
by Ralph Ellison



About the author:
Ralph (Waldo) Ellison (19141994)
African-American writer, teacher,
who, has been
compared to such
writers as Melville
and Hawthorne.
Ralph Ellison



Best known for his novel Invisible
Man which won the National Book
Award (1953)
Shadow and Act (1964)
a collection of political, social and
critical essays




Ralph Ellison
Writing style:
Ellison has used racial issues to
express universal dilemmas of identity
and self-discovery but avoided taking
a traightforward political stand.
"Literature is colorblind," he once said.
Ralph Ellison


Criticism:
Many artists of the Black Arts
movement rejected Ellison for his
insistence that America be a land of
cultural exchange and synergy.
Booker T. Washington (1856- 1915)
an American educator,
orator, author and
the dominant leader of
the African-American
community nationwide

Booker T. Washington

Washington was born in1856, on a
plantation in Virginia, the son of a slave.
Following the Civil War, his family moved
to West Virginia, where he worked in coal
mines, attending school whenever he could.
From 1872 to 1875 he attended a newly
founded school for blacks, Hampton
Normal and Agricultural Institute.
Booker T. Washington

After graduation be taught for two years
and then studied at Wayland Seminary, in
Washington D. C. In 1879 he became an
instructor at Hampton Institute, where he
helped to organize a night school. The
school was so successful that in 1881 the
founder of Hampton Institute appointed
Washington organizer and principal of a
black normal school in Tuskegee,Alabama
(now Tuskegee University).
Washington’s address

On September 18, 1895, in Atlanta,
Georgia, Washington delivered a wellknown address, which became one of
the most important influential
speeches in American history,
establishing Washington as one of the
leading black spokesmen in the United
States.
Famous speech

“To those of my race who depend on
bettering their condition in a foreign land
or who underestimate the importance of
cultivating friendly relations with the
Southern white man, who is their nextdoor neighbour, I would say: "Cast down
your bucket where you are"-- cast it down
in making friends in every manly way of
the people of all races by whom we
aresurrounded.
Reconstruction

In 1857, Congress enacted the
Reconstruction Act, and the Southern
states were readmitted to the Union. The
Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed the
Negro's right to vote. The new
governments in the South, led by radical
whites and freedmen, attempted to deal
constructively with the problems let by the
Civil War and the abolition of slavery. They
began to rebuild the Southern economy
and society.
Reconstruction

Agricultural production was restored,
roads rebuilt, a more equitable tax
system adopted and schooling
extended to Negroes and poor whites.
Tile freedmen's civil and political rights
were guaranteed, and Negroes were
able to participate in the political and
economic life of the South as full
citizens for the first time.
Reconstruction

However, most Southern whites objected strongly
to the Negro's new role in society.
Organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan arose.
Their acts of violence kept Negroes and
white republicans from voting, and gradually the
radical Republican governments were
overthrown. Reconstruction collapsed. White rule
was restored, the Negro was once again
deprived of many civil and political rights, and his
economic position remained depressed.
Apparently, the grandfather was one of the freed
slaves actively involved in the Reconstruction.
Pre-class questions:






1 How do you understand the title of the lesson?
2 Which rhetorical speech is repeatedly used in
this lesson to achieve the fixed effects?
3 How many sections can you divide the lesson
into?
4 Tell the students what difficulties they will face
in understanding the lesson.
5 What is the narrative structure of this story?
6 Why does the author use the first-person
narration?
Detailed discussion of the text


Title: The Battle Royal
A fight involving several or many
contestants; a disorganized violent
fight



Para. 1
1. What is the function of Paragraph?
(1) By saying "It goes a long way
back, some twenty years," the author
tells us that the story took place in the
past.

(2) The “I” here is the narrator, not
the author, of the story, and the
author is using the first-person
narration in telling the story.

(3) "I was looking for myself"
"I am nobody but myself"
point out the central theme of the
novel--searching for self-identity.
It took me a long time and much painful
boomeranging.., but myself.

(1) It took me a long time to get rid of
illusions and realize the simple and apparent
truth that 1 am nobody but myself. It was a
painful process. I started with high expectations
only to be deeply disappointed and thoroughly
disillusioned.

(2) boomeranging A boomerang is a curved
stick from Australia that flies in a circle and
comes back to you when you throw it.
Metaphor , implying that the narrator moved in a
circle and came back to where he had started.





But first I had to discover that I am an
invisible man
(1) Invisible Man is the title of the novel
and invisibility is one of the central motifs
of this work.
(2) The word "invisible" is used figuratively,
meaning not being recognized by society.
(3) To discover that I am an invisible man
is the first step towards realizing who I am
The battle royal scene establishes
invisibility as a major symbol of the novel.
Para. 2
What is Paragraph 2 about?

This paragraph tells us a bit about
the historical background against
which the story took place. It also
introduces a new character--the
narrator's grandfather. On his
deathbed, he said something that
alarmed and puzzled the whole family.





And yet I am no freak of nature, nor of history.
(1) freak: an abnormal person
(2) By "no freak of nature" the narrator means
that he is perfectly normal physically. He
indicates that, physically, he is a homo sapiens
rather than a mutant species as racist scientists
have called Africans.
"Nor of history" means he is a natural product of
history, his growth reflects history, "nor of
history" moves beyond mere physical concerns to
include political, psychological and philosophical
considerations, he suggests that his indictment
is also not freakish but quite comprehensible
considering the suffering and injustice African
Americans have experienced.
(3) This sentence is closely connected
with the above sentence that "I am an
invisible man".
The implied meaning is that I am
invisible or people can't see me, but
this is not saying I am abnormal.





I was in the cards, other things having
been equal (or unequal) eighty-five years
ago.
(1) be in the cards (American English),
be on the cards (British English): to seem
likely to
happen,
e.g. Another resignation could be on (in)
the cards.
(2) When things seemed likely to
happen to me, or when I was fated to be
the man as described in the novel, other
things had been equal (or unequal) eightyfive years ago.


Background information about 85 years ago----As the novel Invisible Man was published in 1952,
eighty-five years ago refer to the end of the Civil
War, specifically the beginning of the
reconstruction period in which so much hope for
the fulfillment of democracy's promises
were perverted, violated, denied . The Civil War
was pursued at first to preserve the Union, but
turned into a crusade for the total abolition of
slavery. Before the end of 1865 all but two
states had voted for emancipation. Ratification of
the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865
ended the remnants of slavery in Delaware and
Kentucky.




Para. 3
What is the main idea of Paragraph 3?
This paragraph is about the tremendous
effect of the grandfather's words upon the
narrator.
Those words became a constant puzzle for
him. As the old man said these words
ironically, the boy couldn't understand him.
Although the grandfather did not appear in
the battle royal scene or any other events
in the rest of the book, his words haunted
the narrator at every important moment in
his life.


It was a triumph for our whole
community:
It was a great success and the whole
community felt happy and proud of
me.
triumph, victory ,conquest"




"triumph" implies a victory in which one exults
because of its outstanding and decisive character
eg. the triumph of modern medicine
"Victory" implies the winning of a contest or
struggle of any kind
eg. a victory in battle, in sports, etc.
"conquest" implies victory in which one
subjugates others and brings them under
complete control
eg. the conquests of Napoleon



Para. 4
What is the function of Paragraph 4?
It tells us about the setting of the
battle royal. The setting is a necessary
element of a story.



Para. 5
What is Paragraph 5 about?
Besides giving more details about
the place, this paragraph introduces
the people involved in the incident
the town's big shots, and the other
black boys who were to take part,
who were "tough guys"





In those pre-invisible days I visualized myself as
a potential Booker T. Washington.
(1) In those days before 1 realized I was an
invisible man, I imagined that I would become a
successful man like Booker T. Washington.
(2) The implied meaning is that after I
discovered who I was, I no longer held that
illusion.
(3) visualize: to feral a picture of someone or
something in your mind, to imagine,
e. g. Don't be so pessimistic. Try to visualize a
bright future.







The the battle royal incident :
Para. 4 --- para. 98.
4 subsections
a. the naked white girl's dance
b. the fight itself
c. the grabbing for the prize money
d. the narrator's speech.
Discussion (paras6-9)



1. Why was the protagonist
frightened and attracted at the same
time?
2. I wanted at one and the same
time.., to love her and murder her.
Why did the narrator feel this way?


3.What is the purpose of the
descriptions of the naked white girl's
dancing?
4. How is this episode related with
the battle royal?


Alliteration:
slipping and sliding over the polished
floor.
Paras. 10--28




blindfold: The word has two meanings.
A. Literally it means to cover the eyes of
someone with cloth or bandage. B. Figuratively
it means to binder the sight or understanding of
someone.
The author uses both meanings in this story.
Note the color of the doth bands is white. The
author is hinting that it is the white people who
cause the blindness of the blacks, blocking their
vision and keeping then, from knowing the truth.

Blindfolding is an important symbol of
the story, implying blindness and
invisibility. In the battle royal,
blindfolds were placed on the fighters'
eyes, making it hard for them to
control their motions. Just as in real
life, all kinds of bondages are placed
on the blacks, and consequently they
can't control their own life and destiny.




Yet even then I had been going over my speech.., as
bright as flame:
"As bright as flame" is a simile, comparing each word of
his speech to bright flame.
When blindfolded, the narrator was thrown into darkness,
which is a symbol of ignorance. Yet to him, the words of
his speech were as bright as flame.
Note the contrast between dark and light. As light is often
a symbol of hope, what the narrator meant was the only
hope for him to get out of darkness was his speech. He
believed that if he could give the speech the white men
would recognize his value.



But now I felt a sudden fit of blind terror.
(1) fit: a very strong and uncontrollable
emotion,
e. g. In a fit of temper he slammed the
door and ran out.
(2) blind terror: Transferred epithet.
Logically the adjective "blind" modifies 'T',
not "terror".
terror, fear, fright, alarm , panic
"Fear" is the general term for the anxiety and agitation felt at the
presence of danger.

“Fright" applies to a sudden, shocking, usually momentary fear
eg. the mouse gave her a fright
“Alarm" implies the fright felt at the sudden realization of danger
eg. a false alarm

“Panic" refers to a frantic, unreasoning fear, often one that spreads
quickly and leads to irrational, aimless action
eg.the cry of "fire!" created a panic

“Terror" applies to overwhelming, often paralyzing fear

eg. the terror of soldiers in combat

It was as though 1 had suddenly found
myself in a dark room filled with poisonous
cottonmouths:
 The image of a dark room filled with
poisonous snakes most effectively
describes how frightened the narrator was,
A cottonmouth is a poisonous snake of
southeastern American swamps, the name
deriving from the whitish interior of the
snake's mouth, also called water moccasin.

Summary & Assignments



1. Summary of each section
to make the students aware of the
thoughts and ideas offered by the
author and make the students know
what we should learn from the lesson.
2.Assignments: