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Fernando Osuna

Mr.Canek Pena Vargas

Political Studies

25 February 2019

Invisibility in Society

Many people can relate to the experience of being invisible or being ostracized at one point in their life.

People striving to fulfil everyone's expectations or trying to satisfy others instead of themselves. The invisible

man, the protagonist, experiences both invisibility and visibility during his journey of trying to make change in

society. In his book, ​Invisible Man​, Ralph Ellison manifests the idea of how someone can be invisible when a

society has certain stereotypes to a certain individuals. Furthermore, he crystalizes the idea how of someone can

be visible when they accept their true identity or culture. Through a careful reading of the novel, we begin to

notice people who are invisible in our modern society - such as immigrants who are labeled as criminals,

rapists, and drug dealers by our very own president.

Stereotypes have surrounded the American psyche for years, especially in respect for African

Americans. The protagonist set himself to go back to Harlem in order to see what happened with his best friend,

Clifton, and to reunite the Brotherhood. Clifton has dedicated three years of his life to the Brotherhood

organization and was assigned as Harlem's Youth Leader. Eventually, the protagonist finds Clifton in the streets

of Harlem selling a doll that was made up of “Orange-and-black tissue paper with...black, mask like face”. The

protagonist can hear Clifton yelling,” ´Shake him, shake him, you cannot break him/ For he´s Sambo, the

dancing, Sambo, the prancing/ Sambo, the entrancing, Sambo Boogie Woogie paper doll.´¨ (Ellison 432). The

situation worsen when the protagonist sees people comparing him to the doll that his once best friend is selling.

The protagonist describes his experience, “ I saw a short pot-bellied man look down, then up at me with

amazement and explode with laughter, pointing from me to the doll, rocking” (Ellison 433). The idea of a

person comparing the protagonist to a offensive caricature makes him self aware of how society really sees him.
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If people sees the protagonist, who’s African American, as the doll and hear the one selling the doll that it can’t

be broken nor needs to be fed or that you can stretch him by the neck, society would start imply those

stereotypes to the African American community. Moreover, if people see African Americans as dolls they will

start treating them as such making them hidden in society not being able to climb up in social status. In addition,

this scene foreshadows when the protagonist finds out that the Brotherhood have been controlling him and other

members to be able to give more power to Ras the Exhorter. Although being perceived with stereotypes makes

you invisible, being able to express yourself truly can not only have an impact on you but to the general public.

Embracing one's identity does not only makes you the person you are but more perceptible in society.

The protagonist has just ran out of a house where he has been staying due to the caregiver, Mary, has become

exasperating since she’s always talking about leadership roles and responsibility. As a result, he flees from the

house and stops a couple blocks after being reunited with a familiar smell. He encounters a street vendor selling

yams and nostalgia kicks in when he remembers how back home he would bake yams on top of coals placed

inside a fireplace. After eating a total of three yams and feeling totally carefree about what anyone thinks of

him, he starts to ponder of why he has never been his true self, “What and how much had I lost by trying to do

only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do? What a waste, what a senseless

waste!”(Ellison 266). After coming to the realization that he has been wasting time and opportunities by only

ever satisfied everyone else by doing what he’s told and not actually doing what he wants he starts scolding

himself. When biting into that yam the protagonist was able to remind himself about his true self, his Southern

culture. The protagonist begins to accepts his true self when he repeats the street vendors phrase “I yam(am)

what I am.” We see the protagonist use the same phrase later in the book when a stranger ask him “Who the hell

are you?” and he replies with “Never mind, I am who I am.” Furthermore, after eating the yams we see the

protagonist witnessed an eviction of an old couple who's furniture are being thrown out by white folks. While

standing next to the bystander crowd he notices objects coming out from a drawer and picks them up. After a

while of analyzing the objects the protagonist feels a strong connection towards them. The protagonist states,

“And with this sense of dispossession came a pang of vague recognition: this junk, these shabby chairs, these
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heavy, old-fashioned pressing irons, zinc with dented bottoms-all throbbed within me more meaning than there

should have been” (Ellison 273). Seeing these objects made the protagonist think back to his Southern culture

and have a deep emotion towards them. After experiencing his true identity once again the protagonist is

determined to help the elderly couple by making himself known and marching the crowd on to the streets. All

things considered, you become more noticeable when you convey your culture to society. However, there are

people who have a hard time of feeling free in this country and not being their true self in fear of being deported

or incarcerated.

When campaigning for president Donald Trump would emphasize immigrants more than any other

serious problem in our country. He would repeatedly talk about building a wall in order to keep immigrants out

of our country. He would proclaim to the public that Mexicans crossing the border are people who are part of

gangs, criminals, and making this country unsafe for Americans. Donald Trump stated in a interview with

Business Insider ,​“What can be simpler or more accurately stated? The Mexican Government is forcing their

most unwanted people into the United States. They are, in many cases, criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc.”

However, many would say that immigrants, especially Mexicans aren't invisible in our society. Although, that

perspective might be true they are however invisible to the opportunities available in this country that helped

them climb in social status. When coming here, they start working in factories, some in farms, and if lucky have

family members who have a business of their own. The majority of immigrants are stuck in the lower class

status due to barely having enough money to support their families. With this in mind, it is now even more

difficult for immigrants to find a job or area where Americans see their true identity and not as rapist as said by

our president. It is important to truly know the person's true self rather than going based off of other biased

stereotypes.

There can be two types of people in this world; those who are socially active about their culture and do

what's needed in order to succeed or those who follow orders and live up to others expectations. Ralph Ellison

famous novel, ​Invisible Man, ​talks about the journey of an African American who is invisible to society by

living life based on stereotypical attributes surrounding him. Together with, solidifying the idea of being more
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perceptible to society when recognizing one's true identity. Thus, making us aware of people in our

contemporary society who live their lives invisible due to the oppression of stereotypes. Invisibility isn't

something you're born with or able to get, it is an idea that is placed on individuals who have been victims of

being stereotyped.

Work Cited Page

Ellison, Ralph. ​Invisible Man.​ Vintage International, 1995.

*Fernando,

Your paper is really great! If you don’t already have an artifact picked for senior defense for humanities,

I would use this! You have met and exceeded all the paper requirements! You have a few technical errors

with your writing or formatting. If you end up using this for senior defense, come and see me and we can

work on making it even stronger with some different analysis phrasing, signal phrases, and word choices.

Written Communication

Domain Grade (E, D, P, A) Comments

Development A

Organization A

Language Conventions A

Knowledge & Thinking

Domain Grade (E, D, P, A) Comments

Argument/Thesis A

Claims/Supporting Ideas A

Counterclaims (optional)

Evidence A

Analysis of Evidence A