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a[Essay analysing Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man                 ]3 Letter
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 [                                                              ]for
S       Grade Level (For High School Students):      9 [ ] 11 [ ]Major
u                                                   10 [ ] 12 [X]Education
B                                       (for Ont., Canada) 13 [ ]Areas,
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I                                                    2 [ ]  4 [ ]
s                                                           5 [ ]English
SSchool/University/College/Institution [St. Joseph's Collegiate ][ENG] [X]
iCity & State (Province) of Inst.      [Buffalo, NY             ]History
OName of Teacher/Prof. submitted to    [Mr. Zabawa              ][HST] [ ]
nGrade Received (If Received Yet)                           [A+ ]Science
 Date Paper was submitted (mm/dd/yy)   [01/04/93                ][SCI] [ ]
FName of Author (Real or Alias)        [The Saint               ]Health &
oHigh School Avg./College GPA of Author                 [95.6   ]Sports
RIf used, Textbook/Novel/Classic Translator/Editor and Version/  [HTH] [ ]
m Edition Info [Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison                  ] -
 Additional Comments [                                          ]The
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Paper: Invisible Man                       Due date: 01/04/93

     Ralph Ellison, in his novel "Invisible Man," provides a

great deal of pleasure and disquietude to his audience. The

sources of this pleasure and disquietude are the many

stylistic elements incorporated in the novel as well as the

thought-provoking content of the novel.

     Pleasure, in the novel, is provided much of the time by

the details the author notes and the stories he tells and the

way he tells them. For example, the story the author relates

about how he almost beat to death a man before it occurred to

him that the man had not actually seen him due to his

invisibility is a source of pleasure because it ends on an

enlightening and amusing note with his realization that the

man had been mugged by an invisible man. Another point of

pleasure and amusement is the author's reference to his fraud

with Monopolated Light and Power as his "battle." It is also

a notable source of pleasure that the author named the power

company 'Monpolated' making it slightly hideous and thus

better justifying his battle. The author's use of such terms

as the "more-expensive-to-operate" kind of bulb is also

amusing and pleasurable. The author's use of particular

detail also adds to the pleasure. For instance, he notes the

exact number of light bulbs he has and how the ingenuity he

has developed as a result of his realization of his

invisibility will allow him to join the ranks of Ford,

Edison, and Franklin. These types of stories and ideas give


pleasure to the audience because the spontaneity with which

Ellison presents them is humorous, also the audience easily

relates to the ideas and stories and thus finds a humorous

truth in them. The truth related in such phrases as "in awe

and in pleasure, and in the pleasure of awe" is another

example of such a source of pleasure.

     The novel raises many social and idealogical questions

and thus often causes disquietude to the reader. An example

of such a disquieting idea is when the author says "The

political equivalent of such entertainment is death. But

that's too broad a definition. Its economic meaning? That the

life of a man is worth the sale of a two-bit paper doll..."

This is disquieting to the reader because it is a sad thought

which escapes the narrator's mind in a moment of anger, and

if the reader is to consider it, it is a horrific truth that

a man's worth can so easily be considered economically and in

such terms. If disquietude makes a reader uneasy and provokes

thought the author succeeds in disquieting the reader with

this idea. Furthermore, a scene such as the scene where the

narrator's disguise so thoroughly misguides Brother Maceo

that they almost get into a fight is extremely disquieting.

The narrator himself notes the scary absurdity of the scene

when he says, "Here I'd set out to test a disguise on a

friend and now I was ready to beat him to his knees- not

because I wanted to but because of place and circumstance."

The scene is disquieting because of the meaning of the



observation, that it does not matter what one does but fate,

"place and circumstance," will decide what happens. The scene

stands as a testimony to the author's conclusion of his

invisibility. Another disquieting occasion in the novel is

when the narrator decides that he will "yes" the Brotherhood

to "death and destruction" and help them "go merrily to

hell." This is a most disquieting point in the book because

it is a very important internal conflict within the narrator

and he takes a decision to do something which would seem not

only nasty to a reader but also crazed.  However the conflict

is enlightening as well for the reader because of the way in

which the narrator conducts the audible and vigorous dialogue

within his mind and raises and answers questions. It is also

notable that the narrator never once mentions his name

throughout the novel. This often makes the reader uneasy but

it also reinforces the narrator's idea that he is invisible,

i.e. his identity is unstable and that it does not matter who

he is because people just look clear through him and relate

to him only to use him for their own ends. Such concepts

are frightening and thus are sources of disquietude to the

reader.

     Finally, the novel provides pleasure and disquietude to

the reader by its humorous storytelling and details as well

as its realization of scary truths and enlightening

observations. Ellison provokes thought in the mind of the

reader through his narrator's diverse experiences and

ultimately leads to the narrator's theory of invisibility.
