Symbol of the briefcase in The Invisible Man
While the civil war ended one form of slavery in America, another system of oppression was ready to take its place. In Ralph Ellison's acclaimed novel Invisible Man, a young black, nameless narrator struggles through a series of hard-won lessons as he makes his journey from the Deep South to Harlem, New York, from naivete to disenchantment, from illusion to insight. Like most of us, he stumbles down the path of identity, adopting several along the way in an attempt to solve his relationship with a hostile, prejudiced American society. Testament to the narrator's various identities is the symbol of his briefcase, which he receives as a prize after the disturbing 'Battle Royal' and proceeds to carry until the end when he is in the coal bin, and truly an invisible man. Its contents -his high school diploma, representing his southern black identity, the recommendation letters representing his college identity, the anonymous letter and the slip of paper with his brotherhood name representing his brotherhood leadership identity, Clifton's paper doll symbolizing his disillusionment with the brotherhoods ideals and finally, the shattered pieces of Mary's bank, perhaps signifying his identity in the context of white America -each an
Brother Tod Clifton's obscene, paper doll is another object the narrator stores in his briefcase, representing his eventual disillusionment with the brotherhood's ideals. Like Tod, the narrator believed he had a kind of moderate power in Harlem when in reality he was merely being manipulated. Selling these racist caricatures were Tod's way of expressing the truth that he was only a puppet and the brotherhood was pulling all the strings. "You were not hired to think", admits brother Jack to the narrator as if saying; 'know your place boy'. identity others dictated by others, not developed by himself. While in the cellar, he creates torches out of these objects as though lighting his past on fire, using his history to guide him out of the hole and out of illusion.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Tod Clifton's, Harlem York, Dr Bledsoe, Golden Day', Booker Washington, Instead Negroes, Ralph Ellison's, , York Doubleday, coal bin, anonymous letter, organization jack, brotherhood name, shattered pieces, 'battle royal', booker washington, american society, paper doll, dr bledsoe,
Approximate Word count = 1258
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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