"Who the hell am I?" (Ellison 386) This question puzzled the invisible man, the

unidentified, anonymous narrator of Ralph Ellison's acclaimed novel Invisible Man.

Throughout the story, the narrator embarks on a mental and physical journey to seek

what the narrator believes is "true identity," a belief quite mistaken, for he, although

unaware of it, had already been inhabiting true identities all along.

The narrator's life is filled with constant eruptions of mental traumas. The biggest

psychological burden he has is his identity, or rather his misidentity. He feels "wearing

on the nerves" (Ellison 3) for people to see him as what they like to believe he is and

not see him as what he really is. Throughout his life, he takes on several different

identities and none, he thinks, adequately represents his true self, until his final one, as

The narrator thinks the many identities he possesses does not reflect himself, but he

fails to recognize that identity is simply a mirror that reflects the surrounding and the

person who looks into it. It is only in this reflection of the immediate surrou

surroundings; therefore, he assumes invisibility. However, invisibility is only his way to

fierce, bald, very dark Negro" (Griffon 191). But unlike the narrator who rejects reality

a person is. Like a stereotype, identity exists externally from the person it identifies

he is as an object, and what that object's relationship is to Lucius Brockway's engine

rules. He feels that he too escaped, in order to establish himself again (386). The

imprisoned. Brother Tarp's imprisonment was for standing up to a White man. He was

because it exists within the eye of the viewer. The narrator during his fight with a

Some common words found in the essay are:
Negro Griffon, American Mind, Jack Tobitt, Dr Bledsoe, Whites Clifton, Dr Bledsoe's, Invisible Throughout, Tod Clifton, Allan Bloom, Clifton Brotherhood, dr bledsoe, american mind, closing american, identity narrator, ed york, closing american mind, identity identity, bloom 113, proper reflection importance, proper reflection, negro griffon, found true, finally found true,
Approximate Word count = 3732
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page double spaced)