Yaritza Waddell

AP English
Miss Ferraiuolo
4 January 2011
The Discovery of an Invisible Identity

In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man the narrator matures from obliviousness into a man who

begins to question his surroundings and how others affect the experiences in his life. Invisible

Man tends to adjust his personality to his surroundings which change throughout the novel. Each

person he meets helps him go through a gradual awakening to realize who he truly is. He

transforms from an educated student, to a man searching for his identity, and a confident leader.
His personality originally was not made of his own opinions and thoughts, but began to take

form as he journeyed through the obstacles he faced that led him to live underground away from

the society tried to control him.

When Bledsoe gave Invisible Man a place in the university, he took the role of an

educated black student. Bledsoe made Invisible Man feel like someone who was trustworthy

because he was chosen to drive a white trustee around campus. This trust made Invisible Man

believe that he was a proper and educated black man. After Invisible Man had taken Mr. Norton

to the inappropriate places he asked for, Bledsoe insulted him by telling him he was dumber than

“the dumbest black bastard in the cotton picking patch.” (139). Invisible Man failed to fulfill the

identity that Bledsoe had created for him. Since Invisible Man does not know his true identity, he

lets those who control him make him who he is. When he fails to portray the identity given, he

faces confusion and is seen as invisible.

Invisible Man is figuratively reborn when he is in the hospital after the accident in the

factory. Lack of memory and the inability to understand speech are characteristics of a newborn

that he possessed. The fact that he could not understand the doctors nor remember anything

about himself also made him appear to have no identity. Invisible Man had stripped himself of

the identity he had formed at the university and was now able to form a new one. A trait from his

old identity that was not lost was his hatred of racism. It was the telling of folklore characters

from the South that helped him recover some of his memory. Racism is strongly shown by the
white doctors when they consider castrating him because it represents the removal of his

authority over himself and the black race. Invisible Man could now follow what the Vet once

said, “Be your own father, young man. And remember, the world is possibility if only you'll

discover it” (156). His anonymity helped him be freer when he set out to go to New York and

find his own identity.

Being a part of the Brotherhood was a way he felt he could be acknowledged. The

Brotherhood did the opposite and changed his name, removing the only sense of identity he had.

Freedom was being promoted by the Brotherhood, yet he belonged to the organization and had to
follow the strict rules. Once again Invisible Man was being shaped into what they wanted. When

his new name had started to become more known he stated, “yet I am what they think I am”

(379). Invisible Man realized that who he was at the moment was the creation of the

Brotherhood. He believed he had been given a vital role which gave him purpose and wholeness.

As a result of his habituation to having his future planned for him, when he was insulted by their

mistrust and accusations he, “stood there silently waiting their decision” rather than defending

himself (406). It is not until Invisible Man begins to answer questions on his own that he could

find out who he truly is.

The narrator in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man was an obedient man and lived the many

identities which others had made for him. From the very beginning of the novel it is told he

would exprience different personalities depending on where he was and who influenced him.

Invisible Man said, "It took... much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a

realization...: That I am nobody but myself. But first I had to discover that I am an invisible

man!" (15). It was necessary for Invisible Man to go through obstacles so that he could have a

gradual awakening and realize who he was. He was not the obedient student, the confident

leader, or a man destined to never know his identity. He was an invisible man and even if no one

else could see it, he knew it was his identity.

 Works Cited

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage International, 1995. Print.