Ellison hits you hard from the beginning, with one of the most cruel and inhumane scenes you will probably ever read about in the first chapter and a story of incest (with strong implication of another case) in the second. From there the book slows down substantially until the end, but is never boring. Throughout it illustrates both overt racism and the more interesting seemingly benign form that actually drives much of the narrator’s life. It would be a mistake, however, to think that the message of the novel is solely about race relations; Ellison makes it clear that most people are “invisible” to the majority of people who look at them, and that many are willfully blind as well.
I find the title and main theme of the book to be a bit of a misnomer. The narrator calls himself “invisible” as he comes to realize that everyone sees him as a token black man, a useful tool, and so forth rather than seeing the man himself with all of his complexities. It seems more that something blocks their view of him than that people see past him to the background, but this does not diminish the power of the narrative. I would not list Invisible Man among my favorites, but it was most certainly worth the read.
I think “something blocks their view of him” also qualifies as invisible in a very literal sense. It doesn’t need to be the sci-fi kind of invisible man.
Comment by Matt — November 18, 2009 @ 2:48 am