An Invisible Man: Facing Identity Challenges

An invisible man steals electricity, breaks bulbs, and lights, and hides in an underground place, where he listens to Louis Armstrong and writes about the story of his life. He is not invisible in the actual sense, but rather people don’t pay attention to him and ignore him.

This enchanting story of "An Invisible Man" is crafted by an American writer Ralph Ellison who was awarded with National Book Award in 1953 for his beautifully articulated masterpiece “An Invisible Man”. This masterpiece highlights themes of race, identity, and invisibility.

An invisible man remains an unnamed person in this whole story. A man who struggles for his identity to be accepted. This story is basically a reflection of the time of great disparity between whites and blacks where white men used to torture and humiliate Black men. Among those black men, there was an invisible man.

This man had inspirational public speaking skills due to which he was often called to deliver speeches in colleges, and institutes. One day, a person called him to deliver a speech, and instead of giving money to him, he promised him to give a suitcase of scholarships to study at a prestigious Balck College but on the condition that he would have to fight against other young men in a game.

At that time, white men used to play notorious activities with these innocents. Such as in competition, they used to make these people fight with each other for fake gold coins. This invisible man had also made to do the same.

But here is a tragic point. A night before that fight, he had a dream where he saw a legit piece of paper of scholarship and he was excited to study there.

After three years, this invisible man was an undergraduate. Mr. Norton, a well-off white school legal administrator, got some information about the grounds.

Norton could use a beverage in the wake of hearing this story, so the invisible man drove him to the Brilliant Day, a bar and house of ill-repute that for the most part served Dark guys. A fight broke out at the bar between a gathering of Dark veterans, and Norton dropped amidst the mayhem.

The next day, the invisible man listened to a sermon at college and then the president of the college called him and scolded him for not showing a hospitable gesture to the white men who came there to explore the ideal lives of black men. Angrily, he expelled this invisible man and gave him seven recommendations to find a job in New York City.

In search of it, he got involved in a crime mistakenly. Policemen tried to arrest him and he escaped from them and fell into a hole in the ground, where he decided to remain there until he completed his story.

After completing the story, the novel ended up with words now I am ready to get out of this ground and one must stick to his own identity rather than ignoring one’s own self in the flair of others.

This novel highlights the social, political, and cultural challenges that African Americans faced during the time of vast disparity. Even though the Women's Rights Bill was added to the Constitution in 1920. Despite that, African Americans faced inequality and racism until the 1970s.

Amid such conditions, there was an invisible man who went through all these hardships and fought tragic incidents of life with brevity. Expressing his grief and the challenges he faced, he said:

"When I Discover Who I am, I'll be Free."

This story not only entertains the readers but also shares a good piece of advice with all those who are struggling in this age of ignorance.

This novel also highlights the power of hope and beginning a new journey again. After wrapping all of his emotions into this story, he decided to get back again with his own identity of which he now felt proud.