Abstract

Ralph Ellison‟s Invisible Man is an advocacy against racism in post-slavery America. The narrator in the story experiences much trauma, due to the fact that people refuse to see him because of the color of his skin. Although a promising college student, his future is jeopardized by the white authorities and even by Dr. Beldsoe who should have been proud of that young man of his own race. The narrator‟s innocence and „‟blindness‟‟ refrain him from realizing, right at the beginning, that his invisibility is so well incrusted in the American social system that he cannot rely on other people, be they white or black, to achieve visibility. After his disappointing experience with the Brotherhood, the narrator goes into hibernation by hiding in a cellar. His introspection helps him to discover his own self and thereby understand people meanness. He finally realizes that his invisibility cannot be turned into visibility, as long as that system is a pervasive one in the American society.