We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Democracy and Dilemma: Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
- Authors
Ghosh, Nibir K.
- Abstract
Beginning with the complexities created by the color line in the racial discourse of the world's most powerful democracy, the USA, the paper brings into bold relief the significance of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man in the pantheon of African American writings. It offers a kaleidoscopic vision into the major historical landmarks that shaped the racial experience in America. The nameless black narrator, in his journey towards self-discovery, realizes he is invisible not because people cannot see him but because they refuse to see him. He is treated not as a human being but simply as a natural resource for the benefit and convenience of the white man. Unlike the overtly militant Bigger Thomas in Richard Wright's Native Son, the narrator in Ellison's novel accepts and affirms that even an invisible man has a "socially responsible" role to play. Rather than indulging in a politics of retreat, he prefers the stance of the politics of affirmation to assert his own identity and existence. By exploring all the significant aspects of the racial confrontation and by looking for a tangible solution to bring about a black-white interface, Ellison has produced through Invisible Man a state of mind from where one can begin to understand the "American Dilemma" better than ever before.
- Subjects
DILEMMA in literature; DEMOCRACY in literature; RACE in literature; RACIAL differences; AFRICAN Americans in literature; WHITE people in literature; INVISIBLE Man (Book : Ellison); ELLISON, Ralph, 1914-1994
- Publication
IUP Journal of English Studies, 2019, Vol 14, Issue 2, p21
- ISSN
0973-3728
- Publication type
Literary Criticism