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Jessie Robertson
Capstone Assignment 2
11/26/13
The Absurd in Invisible Man
The journey that Ralph Ellison takes us in in his novel Invisible Man is a bizarrely
masterful one. We are placed in the hands of an unnamed narrator with whom we observe an
increasingly absurd world. By exploring scenes depicted throughout the novel, we can analyze
and interpret how idea of absurdity affects the narrator and his view of the world as well as
himself. In order to understand this theme, we must first understand what the word absurd means
itself. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, absurd is “ridiculously unreasonable, unsound,
or incongruous” and in terms of philosophy, “having no rational or orderly relationship to human
life”. The narrator’s act of revelation and discovery through absurdity is a crux for larger themes
in the novel: identity and self-creation.
In the beginning of the novel, the narrator has a mostly optimistic and idealist attitude. He
is under the guise that in order to elevate his status within the world, he must impress the
powerful white citizens in his community. This is when the narrator encounters his first absurd
scene: the Battle Royale. When invited to make a speech in front of the town’s leading white
citizens, it is revealed that he would have to engage in a blindfolded brawl with other young
black men, solely for the purpose of the important white townspeople. Instead of being outraged
or even mortified, the narrator was only worried that, “…fighting the battle royale might detract
from the dignity of my speech” (19). It is evident that the narrator is unaware, even desensitized
at the orders that the white men bestow upon him. Instead of questioning the Battle Royale, he
only hopes that his obedience will gain him praise. The narrator believes the only way to elevate
himself through society is to perform his speech in front of these powerful men no matter what
actions they impose on him, stating, “There was nothing to do but what we were told” (21). This
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acceptance becomes an important dynamic in the narrator’s initial beliefs. While he may not
believe that white supremacy is good, he understand it exists, accepts this existence, and tries to
become successful by working his way up in a white society. The narrator believes that speaking
in front of the townspeople is an important opportunity for him. However, the literal blindfolding
of the narrator also reveals his inability to see past the white men’s thinly veiled racist intentions.
On page 22, the narrator states, “Blindfolded, I could no longer control my motions. I had no
dignity.” The absurdity of this situation relies on the sole fact that the narrator, blindfolded,
forced to fight other young black men, electrocuted, and continuously demeaned, is only worried
about making his speech in front of the very men who subjected him to this torture.
Moreover, as the exhausted, beat up narrator begins his speech, we notice another absurd
quality - laughter. As the narrator delivers his speech he describes that, “I spoke automatically
and with such fervor that I didn’t realize that the men were still talking and laughing…” (30).
Instead of treating the narrator with respect, the men instead take advantage of his obedience and
see him merely as a tool for their entertainment. The white men aren’t interested in helping the
narrator – but only molding him in to what they believe is a model ‘black’ citizen. They want to
lead him on the “proper path” and “encourage him in the right direction” – but on their terms
(32). This is evident when the narrator accidently replaces the phrase ‘social responsibility’ with
‘social equality’. The once laughing white men become hostile and angry, with the M.C. yelling,
“We mean to do right by but you’ve got to know your place at all times.” (31). While the
narrator’s understanding of the Battle Royale is overshadowed by his desperation to make his
speech, as readers, we are left to surmise that the narrator would never be able to prosper as an
individual within the confine’s of the powerful white men and their prejudice.
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This search for one’s self through others, becomes commonplace for the narrator in the
novel. After the rejection of his college the narrator feels as if he lost as an individual. In order to
compensate for this, he tries to find his place within a community, in hopes that will help to
create his own identity. Perhaps the most striking example of this is the narrator’s acceptance of
The Brotherhood. The most tempting part about the Brotherhood was the equality they claimed
to promote. Tired of constantly being defined based on his race, the narrator sees the
Brotherhood and it’s philosophy as a means of opening new doors for himself. Brother Jack, a
leading member, states, “It’s simple; we are working for a better world for all people…too many
have been dispossessed of their heritage, and we have banded together in brotherhood so as to do
something about it” (304). Just like the narrator hoped to advance himself through the powerful
white southern men, he also sees an opportunity to become successful through the Brotherhood.
Conditionally, by accepting this philosophy, the Brotherhood gives the narrator a new identity.
However, he isn’t even able to give himself his own new name. Instead the entire process is done
for him. In fact, there was little room for individuality in the Brotherhood, as everyone
supposedly had the same agenda, with the narrator even saying that, “Brother Jack and the others
talked in terms of ‘we’” (316).
The irony of the Brotherhood’s ‘color-blind’ intentions are overshadowed by the mere
fact that the only reason Brother Jack noticed the narrator was because he was an articulate black
man. He knew he could use him as a tool to manipulate others, particularly the black population
of Harlem, to support their cause. Instead of being able to grow as an individual, the narrator is
bound and shackled by the ideology of the Brotherhood: by forcing the narrator to ‘forget’ his
old self, the Brotherhood does not accurately represent the narrator as a whole. Similarly to the
white elite oppressors in the Battle Royale scene, the Brotherhood is angered when the narrator
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crosses the boundaries that were set for him; this is particularly evident in the scene following
Clifton’s death, where the Brotherhood angrily confronts the narrator. As the Brotherhood
berates the narrator for making a speech at Clifton’s funeral, the narrator mentions that he
“…went ahead on my personal responsibility” (463). Just like the elite white men become angry
when the narrator mentions ‘social responsibility’, this becomes a similar situation. Brother Jack
becomes angry, and tells the narrator that, “The committee makes your decisions” (472).
Again, like the elite southern whites, the Brotherhood wants to stunt the individuality of
the narrator. In regards to the people of Harlem, Brother Jack responds says, “Our job is not to
ask them what they think but to tell them!” (473). Notice how Ellison italicizes the words ask
and tell to juxtapose the two. It is evident here that the Brotherhood is not concerned with the
real needs of the Harlem residents but only what they can provide in support for the Brotherhood.
Though he is speaking about the Harlem community, it is almost as if Brother Jack is telling the
narrator that he too falls under this category. He is not allowed to think individually or make any
decisions unless they have been approved by the Brotherhood.
It is only when absurdity strikes that the narrator truly understands the brevity of the
situation; that he will never be understood within the Brotherhood. As Brother Jack becomes so
irate, that he physically and emotionally explodes, the narrator details, “…he came between me
and the light, gripping the edge of the table, spluttering and lapsing into a foreign language,
choking and coughing…suddenly something seemed to erupt out of his face…and there at the
bottom of the glass lay an eye. A glass eye.” (473-474). The fact that Brother Jack’s glass eye
falls from his face during this argument – and the fact that the glass eye was never mentioned
before – represent an important shift in the narrator’s thought process all while creating a
completely absurd and bizarre scene. The narrator realizes that Brother Jack and the Brotherhood
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are blinded by their cause, and cannot recognize that by refusing to acknowledge Clifton’s death,
they are promoting racism rather than demolishing it. However, the absurdity of this revelation
stems from its birth; that it took the physical blindness of Brother Jack for the narrator to
recognize the limits within the Brotherhood’s ideology. After Brother Jack’s outburst, the
narrator comments, “I looked at him carefully now…with the feeling that I was just awakening
from a dream” (476). This is the point where the narrator begins to recognize the absurdity he
has witnessed throughout his journey: “I felt as though I’d been watching a bad comedy. Only it
was real and I was living it” (478).
The riots in Harlem express the narrator’s ultimate realization in his journey. As Harlem
ignites in fury of the death of Clifton, the narrator finds himself without an identity once again.
He became disillusioned from all his past encounters with others. Now, as Ras the Destroyer
confronts him, the narrator is once again being used a merely a tool for someone else’s beliefs.
Just like he was a tool for entertainment for the white elite, and just as he was a tool for the
Brotherhood to manipulate the Harlem community, Ras is using the narrator as a scapegoat –
“…knowing the he wanted my life, the he held me responsible for all the nights and days and all
the suffering for which I was incapable of controlling” (558). Again, the absurd plays a large part
in this scene. We see the absurd manifest in Ras, as he is “upon a great black horse” and “dressed
in the costume of an Abyssinian chief-tain…a figure more out of a dream than out of Harlem”
(556). As he is being threatened with death and treason, the narrator finally realizes the absurdity
of what he has encountered and recognizes it:
“I looked at Ras on his horse and at their handful of guns and recognized the absurdity of
the whole night and of the simple yet confoundingly complex arrangement of hope and
desire, fear and hate, that had brought me here still running, and knowing now who I was
and where I was and knowing too that I had no longer to run for or from the Jacks and the
Emersons and the Bledsoes and Nortons, but only from their confusion, impatience, and
refusal to recognize the beautiful absurdity of their American identity and mine. …And I
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knew that it was better to live out one’s own absurdity than to die for that of others,
whether for Ras’s or Jack’s.”
From this quote, the narrator realizes that creating an identity for him – not an identity molded by
others – is key in achieving meaning in an overtly absurd and meaningless world. To ‘live out his
own absurdity’, he believes, is a much better fate than having one’s absurdity constructed for
you. While he recognizes this notion during the riots, it is not until the epilogue in which the
narrator fully accepts this recognition and opts to create his own identity. The narrator realizes
that he cannot become his own person through the ideology of a preconceived idea or belief
system, stating, “Too often, in order to justify them, I had to take myself by the throat and choke
myself until my eyes bulged and my tongue hung out and wagged…oh yes, it made them happy
and it made me sick” (573). He confronts his own faults, saying, “…my problem was that I
always tried to go in everyone’s way but my own” (573). This leads the narrator to his revelation
that “Life is to be lived, not controlled”, and that creating your own meaning instead of trying to
sacrifice a part of yourself in order fit in to a pre-existing mold by others is an inexplicably
important realization about life.
Through his absurd encounters, the narrator recognizes the faults of social constructions
in regards to creating one’s own identity, as they are too limiting to completely define one’s
whole self. Through absurd situations such as the Battle Royale, his encounters with the
Brotherhood, and the riots in Harlem, the narrator is able to look past what most are ignorant to,
and understands that the complexity of human nature cannot be defined within a single ideology.
By recognizing this, the narrator can begin a new journey; one that focuses on the growth of
himself without the interference of others or by the standards that society has imposed on him.
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Works Cited
"Absurd." Def. 1-2. Merriam-Webster.com. Encyclopedia Britannica.Web. 22 Nov. 2013.
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage International, 1995. Print.