AP Language
Invisible Man Rhetorical Analysis
Please answer the questions below using the lens of bigotry and invisibility. (When we analyze through a lens,
everything we write should be with the purpose of showing the text’s tendency towards that theme/idea. We then
seek to prove our claims with evidence from the text.)
Prologue
1. On page 5, the narrator states that he “learned in time though that it is possible to carry on a fight against them
without them realizing it.”
2. Explain the purpose, context, rhetorical situation. Analyze the quote.
3. In the prologue, the narrator almost kills a blue-eyed man. Why does Ellison mention this incident? Consider that
it is at the beginning of the novel.
4. Analyze the following quote: When discussing his “home,” the narrator says the following when referring to the
Empire State Building and Times Square: “Those two spots are among the darkest of our whole civilization –
pardon me, our whole culture.”
5. In the first seven pages of the prologue, find three examples of antithesis and explain the meaning of each, the
purpose (as you see it) of each, and the effect it has on the meaning/mood/tone of the story.
6. In the paragraph that begins with “Once I saw a prize fighter…” Identify the following:
a. Metonymy
b. Anecdote
c. Alliteration
d. Personification
e. Allusion
Chapter 1
7. Chapter 1, Para 2. What claim is the narrator making in the following statements? Considering the context (date,
place, etc.) of this novel, what might Ellison’s primary claim have been here?
8. “And yet I am no freak…years ago.”
9. Chapter 1, Para 3. “I want you to overcome ‘em to death an destruction…open” (16).
10. On page 19, in the paragraph starting with “We were rushed…” to “impersonal eyes,” the author uses several
examples of antithesis to describe how the narrator feels when he sees the stripper. Identify the antitheses and
discuss their meaning and their effect on the tone.
11. Predict what the “Battle Royal” might foreshadow. Use at least two quotes – with analysis– from the text.
12. The narrator has a dream (page 33) in which he reads a document inside his briefcase. What do you think his
dream symbolizes? Why?
Chapter 2
13. In the first paragraph of chapter two, the author’s choice in diction and detail creates two contrasting moods. What
are the moods, and why do you think Ellison juxtaposed these two moods so closely (in the same paragraph)? Use
evidence from the text.
14. In paragraph 4 of chapter 2, the author uses apostrophe (speaking to an entity that is not really there),
personification (giving human characteristics to an inanimate object), chiasmus (inverting the meaning of a
sentence into AB-BA), anaphora (repetition of a word at the beginning of phrases, clauses, or paragraphs), and
ellipses (leaving out information in a sentence).Even if you don’t know the terms, the language has a unique style.
Comment on the choice in diction and syntax and the effect these choices have on the meaning/tone.
15. What do you notice about Jim Trueblood’s speech? Discuss at least four rhetorical strategies that he uses as he
tells Norton and the narrator his story. Was his story convincing to you? Why or why not?
16. What is allegorical/symbolic about Mr. Norton? Use page 85-87 as a guide for your answer.
17. Discuss the idea of invisibility and blindness. You may reference other pages, but be sure to use page 95.
18. On page 96, the author uses the words, “Quiet Greenness”. What literary device is this?