English and Literature (Book Review Sample)

Invisible Man
Name:
Institution:
Introduction
The novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison was first published in 1952. Race and social issues that surrounded the African Americans in the 1920-1930’s is the general subject matter of the book. The narrator, who is not mentioned, feels invisible in a society he was not made for him. The theme of the book is a narration of how the oppressed can avoid being victims of what society lays down for them but rather find individuality in their situations.
Critical Analysis
The author Ralph Ellison may have written this novel to bring to awareness how the treatment of the African American citizens by the American society. The narrator who refers to himself as the "Invisible Man”, is figurative to others inability to see him. Another reason why the novel may have been written is for the purpose of expressing the need for people not to play around with the hand given to them. Every person makes his or her own decisions individually and as individuals every person has the capacity to control how they see themselves. The book contains several themes and many metaphors all of which help to describe the social issues, race and how African Americans were treated and used. The theme of Invisible Man is how an individual can find his or her own identity in a society that already has pre-mediated ideas of who you are.
When I inquired as to what was going on, I was told that management wanted to see me in other roles, to try to expand my knowledge base
Race is a major theme in the book. The narrator is positioned in numerous situations as far as the race is concerned. It is how the narrator deals with these situations that will finally help him find his true identity. Then narrator is placed in different experiences and faces ne numerous struggles. These experiences and struggles help the narrator to become more enlightened in regard to his roles in the society. When he joins a Brotherhood, he soon discovers that he and his African American brotherhood members are being used to push for a social-political agenda. This agenda is based on people’s perspective about their actions in the society. This idea places the African Americans community in one group and denies them the individuality the white citizens were privileged with. This book is applicable in our society today as the is narrates how we can achieve individuality and not become victims to the society’s perspective about us or how the society thinks we should behave.
The book gives a story of how the narrator gets an opportunity to join college. However, he disgraces himself by fighting with other African Americans while the white men sits on the side lines watching in amusement. "A naked, blonde, white woman with an American flag painted on her stomach parades about; some of the white men demand that the black boys look at her and others threaten them if they don’t" (Ellison, 1965). The narrator then gains the scholarship and travels to attend to the college. Here, he struggles to find himself, which may possibly be the reason why the author never provides to the reader the narrator’s name. The narrator is then expelled from college and relocates to New York where he soon finds a sense of belonging in a Brotherhood. The author makes the membership of the narrator to this Brotherhood appear as a very important part of the novel. The Brotherhood is made up of both the African American members and the whites. In this organization, the narrator is discovered and used to achieve an agenda owing to his superior public speaking skills. He is stripped from his past, identity and home while in the Brotherhood. This scenario is something that can be associated to what was done to African Americans during the era of slavery.
Many connections of African American experiences during the slavery era can be made from the situations the narrator is involved in. The Brotherhood claims to be seeking to help the oppressed in the society and the narrator finds himself advocating for the goals of the organization in public speaking. Their aim can be described as efforts by the organization to control how the oppressed behaves and acts within society. The narrator can be seen as a puppet of the organization as we can see him being sent in various places to preach on the goals of the organization. Many African American members eventually leave the organization including the narrator.
The narrator after leaving the brotherhood gradually becomes enlightened and emancipated from the teachings and goals of the Brotherhood. He begins to see himself as an individual and discovers that individuality is the key to all of his uncertainties. The narrator can only become "visible" when he sees himself in this perspective of individuality but not according to what the society thinks he is, a mere African American man living in prejudice bas...