This frame of mind came twenty some years later in Ralph Ellison's life. Written in 1985 but set in the 1930's Ralph Ellison uses 'An Extravagance of Laughter" to exemplify the trials and tribulations of a young black man struggling not only to be accepted by society but by himself as well. This essay is primarily concerned with questions of race and interaction between people of different races in different times and places. As Ellison travels from a community of apparent segregation (South) to one of a more hidden type (North), he learns that distinctions between cultures are not as definite as they may seem.

Taunted by humiliation from releasing emotional laughter Ralph Ellison arrives at the finale of his essay in disbelief. He probably hadn't counted on one scene in a play changing his

perspective of life. This scene enabled him to reach the conclusion of his exploration. He realized that the absurdity of human nature is all common. Everyone is just at least a little bit the same. Ellison battled with the concept of "masking" throughout the essay. Masking can best be defined as changing one's perspective from the inside out. Or as W. B. Yeats puts it so eloquently in the essay, "active virtue, as distinct from the passive acceptance of a current code, is the wearing of a mask" (268). The person wearing the mask is no longer a part of the original community nor are they a part of the new one. They are caught in a "purgatory" of their own mind. Ellison credits his "decision" to be masked in order to "confront its mysteries (New York) with a combination of uncertainty and daring". Little does he realize that he is hiding from his true self. His desperate need to fit in leads him to believe that his masking will help him to appear like a "New Yorker"; but it doesn't. Ellison is caught between trying to survive as both an African-American and an American. Ellison toils between trying to escape the ridicule he received because of his race and trying to hide behind it. "Which is to say that in many instances I found my air and attitude could offset the inescapable fact of my color" (268). The reality of it all was that nothing offset his color. No matter which way he looked at it there was some aspect of his race that was holding him back. He felt that he was accepted when wearing his mask, but from the outside looking in, Ellison was trying to modify whom he really was just to fit into his new version of society.

This idea of masking became a very important concept because of the transitio

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1160
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)