Essay/Term paper: Critique of the invisible man

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Persuasive Essays

The goal of every person is to find their place in society. The journey itself is
a hard one, but sometimes unforeseen obstacles make this journey nearly
impossible. The book, The Invisible Man, takes us along the journey with a
man that has no name. You may think that it is odd not to give the main
character of a book a name, but if you think about it, what purpose does a name
serve? Isn"t is said that a man"s actions speak louder than his words? In this
story, the man"s actions go hand in hand with his words, to make him desired
by some, feared and hated by others.

The journey begins with the man fighting for his very education. Earning a
scholarship meant to physically destroy the competition. It showed that to get
an education he had to act the exact opposite of an educated man. He had to
rely upon his own primitive brutality to insure his education. He was then
mocked by having to recite a speech he was to memorize, which showed the
total disrespect the people who were giving the scholarship had for the future
students.

After getting into school, a simple job turned into an unforeseen disaster that
would change his life forever. He was to chauffeur Mr. Norton, a founder of
the college he attended. Mr. Norton was a well educated but very ignorant
man. He felt that the college was doing all of the good that could be done. He
had no idea of the evils that dwelled upon the grounds. Dr. Bledsoe, the head
of the college, had arranged for Mr. Norton to go for a tour of the grounds, but
didn"t expect for him to see "everything" at the college. Mr. Norton asked to
see some of the more unseen areas of the college, so the driver had to oblige
him. Their they met a man with an incestuous past. Mr. Norton was dumb
founded, he had no idea something like this could happen at his college. This
just shows the many evils we come across in our lives that appear like
shadows, taking us by total surprise. The phrase, "Out of sight, out of mind",
seems to hold great relevance. When you choose to ignore the bad things in life
you become weak, and when they finally do hit you, you may never recover
from the blow.

The next destination they reach is the Golden Day, a hotel/brothel which
exists because no one bothers to do anything about it. It"s a symbol of what
happens when problems are not kept in check. Inside the Golden Day exist
some Sanitarium Patients who represent the many faces of society. What is
normal? These patients may have been average citizens one day, but the strains
of society have taken their toll upon them. The struggle to blend in with society
has caused them such stress that it has robbed them of their sanity. These
peoples"s journeys have had to many twists and turns which they could not
recover from.

After returning, Dr. Bledsoe was informed of what had happened. In a rage
he blamed the driver for everything. This shows society"s need to blame
someone or something. Nothing can be what it appears to be. Someone has to
be blamed for what happened. This marks the end of the beginning of the man
with no identity. Due to circumstances beyond his control he is about to have
his entire dreams unknowingly destroyed.

The man with no name is instructed to go to work for the summer to earn
money for the next semester, which he unknowingly will never see. He is given
letters to deliver to different businessmen in order to get a job. These letters
speak badly of him. Which he discovers when one of the secretaries shows him
the letter. He then gets a job at a factory where they make paint. There he
meets Mr. Brockway his boss, a modern day dictator. Brockway is king of his
domain, the basement, where the work that no one else wants to do is done.
Brockway believes he is a self-made genius due to the fact he helped build the
basement and knows where everything is. This shows how an ego can be
dangerous. Brockway is willing to kill to keep his position. Even though it
may seem like nothing to everyone else, to him, it is his life. It"s his only reason
to exist, and he doesn"t want anyone to take it from him. When an accident
occurs he blames it upon his assistant, who is severely hurt during the accident.

The man with no name awakes in some kind of hospital to find he has
undergone some kind of surgery. The surgery, I believe, represents the great
changes that everyone must go through in order to get accepted into society.
Even though they may be done against our will, or unknowingly to us.

He awakes to stumble out into the street to be discovered by Mary, a kind
hearted black women who offers him a place to stay. Mary represents those
few people who go out of their way in order to help those people less fortunate
then themselves. Mary is the one light in the darkness to help the lost traveler
upon his journey. She gives him the kindness and support that he needs during
this difficult time of his life.

One night he happens upon a large group of people witnessing an elderly
black couple being evicted. He gives a speech denouncing the actions of the


men who are evicting them. A riot follows, but he escapes by running along the
roof tops. A man who heard his speech offers him a job as a speaker for his
"Brotherhood", which is a combined group of white and black people working
for a better Harlem. He has discovered his talent which will lead to his success,
and failure. His gift of speech is a double-edged sword, it will be the source of
his success, but it will lead to his being used and eventually discarded like a
used paper cup.

Over the next few months he is trained and groomed like a pig to be sent to
slaughter. He is then sent to speak to the people in Harlem to try and unite
them together. During this time he meets two unique people, one of which is
Ras the Exhorter. Ras wants to lead a violent revolution of Harlem. He is the
evil of Harlem incarnate, he has no compassion for the people, he doesn"t care
who dies as long as his will is served. Ras does not believe that white and black
people should work together.

The other person he meets is Clifton, a black man, in charge of his security.
Clifton is a person who believes in all people working together, he often
violently renounces Ras the Exhorter.

An interview with a news paper reporter leads the man with no name to be
put on a sort of trial by the Brotherhood. They are not pleased that the article
only deals with an individual and not the whole Brotherhood. This leads to the
man with no name to be moved out of Harlem for a short time.

After returning to Harlem, he finds that Ras has taken almost total control.
He sees Clifton on the street selling small black dolls. This shows how society
can crush a man"s will. After an argument with a cop Clifton is shot and killed,
a funeral is arranged and the invisible man is ridiculed by the Brotherhood for
making a hero out of a traitor. This shows one of the great flaws of the
Brotherhood, their inability to forgive their own members. He finally leaves the
Brotherhood learning that they valued him for his gift of speech not his view. It
is so common for people not to look at the inner abilities of a person, they are
often more than they seem.

A riot commences and he sees the true purpose of the Brotherhood, to have
Harlem destroy itself. This leads to the utter destruction of all he believes in.
His journey has led to a turn that passed through hell itself. All he had worked
for was for nothing. He was used and had no idea that it had happened. The
reason I believe the book was named The Invisible Man, was for one simple
reason, he was one of society"s nameless victims.

The author of The Invisible Man is Ralph Ellison. He was born in
Oklahoma and trained as a musician. He wrote many short stories and fiction
for magazines. The Invisible Man won him the Nation Book Award and the
Russwurm Award. He was a charter member of the National Council on the
Arts and Humanities. He died in 1994.

The main character was a very strong yet naive character. In example, he
was strong enough to take the job of chauffeuring Mr. Norton, but he didn"t
realize that he shouldn"t take him to certain areas on campus. He was a very
trusting character, which may be a good trait, but it could get you into alot of

trouble. A good example of this is how he trusted the Brotherhood to support
him and his views. He was a strong character in the sense that through all of
the hardships that he had faced throughout his journey he stuck with his ideas.

The Invisible Man has many ties with reality in the sense that it shows how
cruel and brutal life can be. Our main character worked hard to get into school
only to have it taken away from him. The same happened to him when he got a
job at the factory. The final and most devastating blow is dealt by the
Brotherhood. They took him in as one of their own and made him feel
welcome. The made it seem as though they were working for the same goals
they he was. Only to betray him in the end and use him for their own misguided
wants.

This book is similar to the play Hamlet. Both of the main characters are
strong yet naive. They both endure many tragedies. Although the ones in
Hamlet are closely related to family, they both deceive the main characters to
destroy their dreams. The main characters both fight back though, they defend
their beliefs viciously never giving in to their enemies.