Invisible Man and Violence/Anger

Invisible man and violence/anger

In Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, people see racism as hatred, evil and ignorance which is carried throughout generations. There are people who incite the violence in the book and try to use others beliefs toward their own goals. Ras the Exhorter, is one of them. Ras’s philosophy in the book ends up leading into violence. Except Ellison is different from other writers, he does not portray Ras as a classic villain but rather a leader who gives hope and courage to the Black Americans in the story but also makes mistakes as any other human being or leader. Ellison and the narrator try to tell Ras that by burning and looting other black people’s homes, that they are falling into the trap of the Brotherhood and that this is what the white people want. His words do not work against Ras and his followers so the narrator then turns to violence in which he throws a spear at Ras and then hits two men with a chain and a briefcase. The narrator turns to violence as a final resort only when his words do not work. If the narrator was dealing with the same situation at the beginning of the book he would of stayed and fought off as many as he could. Through the narrators experiences he develops into a different man from anger.

The narrator is full of anger. He feels that the entire world is out to get him and that most people just ignore him because he is black. Throughout the book, the narrator is filled with a violent rage in which he has to quiete it. He does not want people to see him angry or frustrated where they could possibly stereotype him and other black people as angry and savage beasts blinded by rage. When the narrator does turn violent and lashes out, he usually regrets what he did. As we near the end of the book, the narrator has more control over his anger than the beginning. He is no longer “blinded” by rage from others ideas and stereotypes, he casually throws them aside and moves on. At the beginning of the book, a European man stumbles into the narrator and violence ensues. The narrator head butts the man and kicks him to the ground and then pulls out a knife to slit his throat but stops short. The narrator realizes what he is doing and stops short then walks home with many conflicting feelings. The narrator calls the people who do not see him as “sleepwalkers,” who are unconscious of his presence and may become violent if woken up. Like the sleepwalkers, when the narrator figures out that the letters from Dr. Bledsoe were fake, he becomes enraged from metaphorically being woken up from his dream.

Anger is constant throughout Invisible man from the beginning of the book where the narrator’s Grandfather dies angry because he followed the white man’s rules which in turn haunts the narrator throughout his story to the end of the book where the narrator fights against people of his own race. The narrator is not afraid to fight anybody for what he believes and how he wants people to see him.