glaring blindness
Blindness is a very interesting and important theme to Ellison’s Invisible Man. Oftentimes throughout the novel the Narrator is blinded and is unable to see the events, which are happening to him. The Narrator is a black man who thinks of himself as invisible to the rest of the world. Many times the Narrator is given hints and clues on how to better himself, but his own blindness prevents him from being a visible member of society. His own blindness prevents him from being nothing more than a silhouette of a person to not only himself, but the rest of the world as well. The Narrator is first blinded when he is supposed to participate in the “battle royal.” This battle is a contest where many Negro boys were blindfolded in a ring and were supposed to fight for the white men who were watching. The Narrator is blindfolded and is supposed to fight, “But now I felt a sudden fit of blind terror. I was unused to darkness. It was as though I had suddenly found myself in a dark room filled with poisonous cottonmouths” (21). The Narrator is blinded and he is very scared of what is going to happen to him. Many times in situation, the Narrator is given hints on how to survive and bet
The only way for the Narrator to begin to see was to accept his past and understand that his past experiences are a vital part of who is actually is. He finally does this in Chapter Twenty-Three, The Narrator continues to be blinded by both himself and other things throughout the novel. Every time he begins to take steps in becoming visible, he gets blinded and goes back to where he started. This reoccurring blindness is what continues to puzzle and frustrate him so much. It is not until he was able to accept his past experiences and learn from them that he became able to see what was going on. This allowed him to accept his invisibility to the rest of the world. After he gets expelled from college, he runs into an old vet on a bus ride up to New York. The old vet can see that the Narrator is blinded and is not looking clearly at the world, so he tells him, “Come out of the fog, young man. And remember you don’t have to be a complete fool in order to succeed” (153). This advice is very similar to the advice in which is grandfather gave to him. They are both telling him to step out into the world and begin looking at it clearly. They are also telling him to get along with the world; you do not have to necessarily like what you are doing, but go with the flow if you want to survive.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Invisible Oftentimes, Chapter Twenty-Three, Paint Company, Sixteen Narrator, Negroes Instead, Event Narrator, narrator blinded, rest world, Chapter Eleven, Vintage International, accept past, , own blindness prevents, narrator hints, “battle royal”, supposed fight, own blindness, blindness prevents, invisible rest world, past experiences, past humiliations,
Approximate Word count = 1392
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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