The Parallel Lives of Toni Morrison's Sethe and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

Oscar Wilde said, "The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple." In fact, many times the truth that a person seeks is often as fragmented as a broken mirror. In that mirror, a reflection can be seen, but the image is cracked and broken much like the lives of Sethe in Toni Morrison's Beloved and the narrator in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. The visions they see are not the truth, instead they are a well constructed lie that they are forced to live in.

Many similarities exist between the two novels and the two main characters, ranging from the most basic to the intricately complex. Both are African Americans suffering from the miseries caused by slavery. Their lives revolve around an institution, which controls how they are looked at by society, including other blacks. Still, one major difference exists between Sethe and the narrator in Invisible Man. He grew up believing in a life that could never be real. Sethe has been burying her real life for eighteen years, pushing away her past and the truth. One is running toward life and the other is running away from it. By piecing together the many fragments that surround them, both the main characters in Invisible Man and Beloved are able to realize the truth in their own lives.

The narrator in Invisible Man is given one identity after another only to have them stripped away or devalued those around him. Even with a countless number of identities, the narrator never really assumes one for himself. Each "self" is forced on him and becomes only a fragment of a downtrodden man. For his studies in school he is awarded degradation-a battle royale fight in which he is reduced to the level of an animal, sparring with another black student for the amusement of white men. College holds no more promise, other than false identities, and increases the blindness of the narrator when he attempts to judge his own society. The narrator is first shown the error of his vision by the insane veteran in the Golden Day Tavern.

But seriously, because you both fail to understand what is happening to you. You cannot see or hear or smell the truth of what you see - and you, looking for destiny! It's classic! And the boy, this automaton, he was made of the very mud of the region and sees far less than you. Poor stumblers, neither of you can see the other. To you he is a mark on the scorecard of your achievement, a thing and not a man; a child, or even less - a black amorphous thing. And you, for all your power, are not a man to him, but a God, a force..." (Ellison p.95)

The explanation is clear and simple, yet the narrator does not understand. He still believes in the identities given to him by others. After arriving in Harlem he begins to believe that another organization, the Brotherhood, is the way to truth, but he finds out that it is merely another piece of his fragmented life. Unfortunately, the narrator in Invisible Man does not see that college and the Brotherhood are practically one in the same. By choosing to speak for the Brotherhood and all African Americans, the narrator is upholding beliefs that oppress him and his fellow man. Again, he is a puppet being manipulated by forces he does not control. After giving his speech to the Brotherhood, they dismiss him and insist on more "education" for the narrator, which will further assist their goals. He is not "one of them." They are only controlling him.

"Training. All is not lost. There's hope that our wild but effective speaker may be tamed. The scientists perceive a possibility! Very well, it has been arranged; perhaps not scientifically but arranged nevertheless. For the next few months our new brother is to undergo a period of intense study and indoctrination under the guidance of Brother Hambro." (Ellison p.351)

Again, all sense of identity is lost. The narrator is taking on an identity that is not his own. However, this time he can almost sense its presence, "I sensed vaguely and with a flash of panic that the moment I walked out upon the platform and opened my mouth I would be someone else." (Ellison p.336) Still our narrator can do nothing to stop it.

In Morrison's Beloved, Sethe shows this same type of false identity by removing herself from the past and giving into others' perceptions of what she should be. The nature of motherhood has allowed her to push away the past and ignore the broken fragments or her life. Sethe's love for her children, especially Denver, has allowed her to hide from her history. And the splinters of her broken remain as long as she maintains her false identity.

"Why you think you have to take up for her? Apologize for her? She's grown."

"I don't care what she is. Grown don't mean nothing to a mother. A child is still a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What's that supposed to mean? In my heart it don't mean a thing." (Morrison p.45)

This undoubting love for her daughter Denver comes from an inability to deal with the crimes committed against her other children in the past. The Beloved character then surfaces as both her murdered baby and as the grown woman Sethe. Beloved, or this true sense of self, could never be realized inside Sethe because she is too afraid of dealing with her past.

Other identities are given to Sethe in much the same way that they are bestowed on the narrator in Invisible Man. Sethe's town has condemned her for the infanticide she committed. She is a killer. Even Paul D, a source of compassion, attacks her.

"What you did was wrong Sethe."

"I should have gone on back there? Taken my babies back there?"

"There could have been a way. Some other way."

"What way?"

"You got two feet, Sethe, not four," he said, and right then a forest sprang up between them; rackless and quiet. (Morrison p.165)

Paul D, insisting that Sethe acted out like an animal, seemed to speak for the entire town. Sethe had an identity that others thought came from hatred, when in fact it was love for her children that caused her to kill her daughter. Neither Sethe nor Paul D has formed a strong identity because they are unable to take control of the fragments of their memory. Paul D must find a way to open his "tin can" heart and release the demons that welded it shut, while Sethe must find a way to put her dead baby to rest. Sethe says she will never run away from anything again, but by giving this undying, motherly love to Beloved, she is still running from her past and her murdered baby.

"No more running - from nothing. I will never run from another thing on this earth. I took one journey and I paid for the ticket, but let me tell you something, Paul D Garner: it cost too much! Do you hear me? It cost too much." (Morrison p.15)

Paul D tells Sethe that she is her own "best thing." Her children, those alive or dead, do not determine who she is. The past, and Beloved, can no longer control Sethe once she has realized her own identity.

"In this here place, we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it hard. Yonder they do not love your flesh. They despise it... hear me now, love your heart. For this is the prize." (Morrison p.88-89)

The narrator in Invisible Man came to this realization of freedom in much the same way that Sethe did. After being ostracized by the Brotherhood and despised by all those he encounters, the narrator is left with a briefcase of false identities at the end of the novel. His high school diploma, his college acceptance letter, the smiling Negro bank, the Shambo puppet, and his Brotherhood identification papers were all attempts at controlling him and manipulating his identity. All these things symbolize the distractions and false identities that kept the narrator from seeing the truth. By burning all these material things, our narrator finally seizes his identity from those who had stolen it long ago.

By reclaiming a sense of self, both Sethe and the narrator in Invisible Man, gain a freedom that they were never granted in the past. They are beginning to take back what slavery robbed from their parents and grandparents. Although neither was enslaved later in life, both Sethe and the narrator in Invisible Man were slaves to their past and false identities. By taking control of the fragments of their lives, both characters are able to construct a new image of who they truly are.

1. Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. Copyright 1947.

2. Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Copyright 1998.