The story is told in a series of flashbacks by the narrator, who in the present resides in New York. It revolves around the space of twenty years between the narrator's graduation from high school and the present.

The book is set alternately in the South and the North, specifically South Carolina and New York. The majority of the novel is set up North, however, as this is the place where the narrator now lives.

The novel begins with a passage describing a nameless man's existence in an abandoned basement under a city building reserved for white people. He has only a few possessions, but out of those, he does have a favorite - his record player. The narrator adores music, and dreams of owning five record players so he can listen to "What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue" by Louis Armstrong coming out of five speakers at once. As he describes his residence, he mentions that the pla

The end of the book continually uses the appearance vs. reality theme: the Brotherhood's appearance of caring for the underprivileged minorities; the jealous factory worker's appearance of being harmless (but ends up being responsible for the near-death experience of the narrator); and the con man who appears to be everything from a pimp to a preacher. These are only a few examples of Ellison's employment of this theme.

Moving on, though, proves to be a more difficult task than it appears. He is immediately dismissed as a traitor by other blacks, and suddenly finds himself being followed by people from The Brotherhood (who believe the narrator has betrayed them). The narrator begins to disguise himself, but finds he is frequently mistaken for a well-known con man who is known for exploiting his ability to blend into his surroundings (or become invisible). The narrator makes a mad dash back to his old stomping grounds in Harlem, where to his shock he finds that race riots have broken out. Without thinking, he throws himself into the bedlam, holding little or no regard for The Brotherhood (who would have certainly looked down on one of its members participating in a riot). After the riot, he scrambles away from the scene. During his run, however, he is chased by two white men. While he frantically searches for a hiding spot, he finds the abandoned basement. He begins to recover from his excursion at the riot, but suffers from nightmares and delusions of being caught by The Brotherhood all the while. The narrator finds that writing about his experiences help to relieve him of much of the pain the past twenty years have caused him, though - writing helps him to revive his desire for life. This brings the reader up to the present in the narrator's life.

Throughout the book's first six chapters, the narrator describes his life following high school through his stint at a college for African-Americans. In Chapter One, the narrator talks about his excitement at the prospect of speaking at a function attended by the city's most prestigious white populace. As it turns out, it is actually an informal gathering of men who are there to watch a stripper and a "battle royal" between the narrator and another young man. The narrator describes the battle royal as a fight without rules - the fighters receive no breaks, and both of them are blindfolded. This battle introduces a theme that will be prevalent in the entire story - the struggle to be a successful black man in a world full of white roadblocks.

This opening section of the book deals with alternating scenes of chaos and peace - from the joy of bei

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Approximate Word count = 1763
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)