Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison's novel, Invisible Man, is a story laden with irony and symbolism. It can also be viewed as a characterization of political leaders. One only has to read the novel and be somewhat familiar with the public speakers and leaders up to and during the Harlem Renaissance to recognize similarities between some of the characters in the novel and the leaders in the African American community. At the time Ellison wrote Invisible Man, African Americans had not been free for very long. Many were still trying to find their voices and their niche in society. Through his book, Ellison could have been showing his readers the various leadership styles and outlooks on where black people belonged or he could have been helping them to discover which political ideals appealed to them. Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey are portrayed through Dr. Bledsoe/the narrator and Ras the Exhorter, respectively; but Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. Dubois are also portrayed through the narrator.

Like Booker T. Washington, Dr. A. Herbert Bledsoe is a leader of a black college in Alabama. From all outward appearances, Bledsoe is a true black leader who has made it his purpose in life to teach young African Americans and provide them with the skills necessary to survive. However, like Washington, it is important for Bledsoe to impress and maintain a level of approval from his white supporters by keeping his students in line. Like Washington, Bledsoe has influence over white people as well as black and it is his desire not to lose this influence by rocking the boat (Singleton 13) ¹. After the narrator's escapade with Mr. Norton, while the narrator is sitting in Bledsoe's office, Bledsoe offers an outlook on the necessary behavior of black people. He says, "You'll find that [Norton] wants you disciplined; he might not know it, but he does. Because he knows I know what is best for his interests" (Ellison 143). Though Washington may not have been as extreme as Dr. Bledsoe, he still believed that there were behaviors expected of black people in order to maintain support and a level of approval. Bledsoe is not the only character in the book that resembles Washington. The narrator himself makes a statement similar to that spoken by Washington. At the beginning of the novel when the narrator gives his speech at the battle royal he makes a comment about southern black people casting down their buckets where they are which is reminiscent of Booker T. Washington's "Up From Slavery" speech (Ellison 30)². These examples are reminiscent of Washington's political style and offer an example of the leadership available to African Americans.

Another political figure represented in Invisible Man is Marcus Garvey. Garvey is clearly depicted in some of the behaviors exemplified by Ras the Exhorter. The narrator comes face to face with Ras very early in his career in the Brotherhood. The expressions that Ras makes during his exchange with Brother Clifton and the narrator are just a few examples of the behaviors and opinions expressed by Marcus Garvey. Ras fights with Brother Clifton and the narrator about his belief that black people should be for black people only. He says, "Ras, he be here black and fight for the liberty of the black people" (Ellison 375). The fact that Brother Clifton and the narrator involve themselves with an organization made up of both black and white people make them traitors to their people as "Ras recognizes the true issues and he is not afraid to be black. Nor is he a traitor for the white men" (Ellison 376). Garvey also spoke on the issue of black people banding together to help black people and his belief in his slogan for "Africans for Africa at home and abroad (Hill 772).

As stated previously, Ellison also represents Frederick Douglass in Invisible Man. For instance, Brother Tarp hangs a poster of Frederick Douglass on the wall in the office of Invisible Man. He asks Invisible Man if he has ever heard of Frederick Douglass. Invisible Man states that his grandfather used to speak of Douglass. This could be an allusion to the fact that the implications of Douglass's leadership are far-reaching and long lasting. Further, Ellison possibly alludes to both W.E.B. Dubois and Frederick Douglass and their stances on women's rights to vote. This occurs when the narrator's focus in the Brotherhood changes from the downtown Harlem district to the women's issue while the Brotherhood investigates him for wrongdoing (Ellison 406). According to background information about Douglass and Dubois, Dubois was "the leading black male spokesperson for women's rights since Frederick Douglass (Hill 771)³. Both Dubois and Douglass made a connection to women's rights in their stand on matters of equality for African Americans in America.

In conclusion, Invisible Man is a representation of the political leaders and public speakers including Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Dubois, Frederick Douglass, and Marcus Garvey. Though there are some similarities among each leader, they all had their own styles and offered varying outlooks on the issues facing Black America. With the characters Bledsoe, Ras the Exhorter, and the narrator, Ellison's novel provides a representation of each leader and allowed Black America an opportunity to see the varying political styles of the leaders.

¹According to the text book, Call and Response, Booker T. Washington was known for his social conservatism. He was "generally silent" on issues of the power of white people over black (Hill 70).

²In an essay written by M.K. Singleton, he states, "In his graduation speech the lad slavishly elaborates the "Cast down your bucket where you are" metaphor made famous in Washington's Up From Slavery" (12).

³According to an online article from Cliff Notes, "Ellison merges fact and fiction again in this chapter, as the image of the narrator speaking on behalf of women's rights recalls the role abolitionist Frederick Douglass played in the late nineteenth-century Women's Suffrage Movement.

Sources:

"Bound No'th Blues." Call and Response The Riverside Anthology of the African

American Literary Tradition. Ed Patricia Liggins Hill. Houghton Mifflin

Company. New York. 768-1063.

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man Random House. New York. 1947

Singleton, M.K. "Leadership Mirages as Antagonists in Invisible Man".
Twentieth Century Interpretations of Invisible Man: A Collection of Critical
Essays.

Ed. John M. Reilly. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1970.

Wiley, John. CliffNotes Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison Chapters 18-19. 2006.
1 March 2006.http://education.yahoo.com/homework_help/cliffsnotes/invisible_man/41.html