Motifs of Invisible Man

Throughout Invisible Guy by Ralph Ellison the narrator battles lots of battles constantly. These themes that all assemble into the many styles of the literary work. The themes vary from blindness to invisibility even to the bigotry keeping our narrator from discovering his true identity. Blindness is the most secondhand concept in Unnoticeable Male. The storyteller and his peers are constantly battling blindness throughout the novel. Throughout the novel blindness is a problem since willfully prevent seeing and confronting the true problem.

"Within the American conscience with such an intensity towards his situation" (Forward Page 2).

Throughout the time duration the moral blindness of whites was a major issue, however so was the loss of sight of blacks. A lot of the brothers stayed blind to the true issue they were confronting. Also loss of sight takes a few literal turns. One throughout the "Fight Royal", when the kids battle blindfolded, and the 2nd the statue of the founder is referred to as "not having eyes".

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Loss of sight likewise literally experiences blindness. The concept, blindness, informs us about the actions and feeling of the society. The 2nd significant motif is invisibility. Not only is it in the title, however this topic plays major role throughout the novel.

The book starts out with the storyteller saying "I am an Unnoticeable Guy" (page 3). This concept continues to appear all the time up until the epilogue. The theme of invisibility goes together with ethical blindness. While blindness has a bad connotation, Invisibility can bring liberty and movement.

"I've overstayed my hibernation, since there's a possibility that even an unnoticeable man has a socially accountable function to play" (Page 571). The narrator recognizes that being undetectable might be a safe position, but he would never ever have the ability to make a significant impact in the world.

Although he is comfortable as an invisible man he emerges to go make a visible impact on the world. The last major motif, Racism, is an obstacle to finding individual identity. Throughout the novel he struggles to find his true identity. As he passes from minor society to minor society he tries to adapt their identity on to him. Each time he takes away from his individuality. The narrator finally realizes that racism just causes him to see what others want him to see. He comes to this realization when he says “and I knew it was better to live out f one’s own absurdity than to die for that of others, whether for Ras’s or Jack’s” (page 559).

In the end he chooses to be productive by making his own contributions to society; force others to acknowledge, and to clarify the reality of thoughts outside of their prejudiced notions. The narrator battles blindness of others, the comfort of invisibility, and the obstacle blocking his own personal identity. Throughout this coming of age novel the narrator losses many battles, but in the end he finally wins. He ends as a visible advocate staying true to himself.