Invisible Man, written by Ralph Ellison, dreams play a critical role in the progression of the narrative. For almost the entirety of the book, Ellison creates a society that is belligerent to the narrator as he tries to resist the multiple identities thrown upon him. But in some instances of Invisible Man, especially in the beginning part of the novel, we see other facets of the narrators mind through dreams and dreamlike states. In the prologue, the narrator's thoughts seem jumbled but include powerful topics such as racism, slavery, and memory.
In the prologue, our main character is smoking some marijuana and listening the Louis Armstrong's Black and Blue. He begins to go in and out of consciousness. In his thoughts, we can picture the struggles and pain of slavery. This scene kind of shows us emotions we can not see in the narrator often.
In Chapter One, the "battle royal" is kind of portrayed as being dream-like as well. However, it seemed more like a nightmare. It was super rushed and so many things were happening. The narrator is very freaked out during the whole scene and is not completely sure what is going on; kind of like a dream. As the scene is portrayed in somewhat of a dreamlike state we can learn things that we probably would not know if the scene was written in a more well thought out and formal style of writing. We are able to see images that society is trying to hide such as the obvious racism and misogyny.
Why does Ellison include this theme of dreams and being in a dreamlike state?
Why does Ellison include this theme of dreams and being in a dreamlike state?
This dreamlike state of the book may be at least partially due to the fact of all of the metaphors used. If you look over the plot as a whole, it doesn't really seem to have a good flow or make a lot of sense. That's why looking for deeper meanings in Invisible Man is so important, otherwise it wouldn't make sense. At the same time, the heavy reliance on double meanings and metaphors would distort the feeling of reality, so the book would feel somewhat dreamlike overall. It also might allude the the narrator's state of consciousness, since the book was much more dreamlike at the start of the book. The narrator at the start went with what he was told, kind of like how you act in a dream. He also didn't really demonstrate the complex thought that we see later in the book, also much like you might feel in a dream.
ReplyDeleteWhen considering scenes like chapter one and three I think its always important to consider how the narrator is portrayed in the introduction. Can we really trust someone who lives isolated in a room constantly lit by 1369 lightbulbs? We can't know if the narrator is reliable, and the dense symbolism in these chapters support this. For example the vet in chapter three appears more stable than anyone else in the room, including the narrator. Perhaps Ellison intended for Invisible Man to be read through an unreliable perspective or the style just may be absurd.
ReplyDeleteI think your point about the narrator's emotion is important. He seems to be very passive in the first few chapters. For instance, when he is told to go to New York, he isn't reluctant to go, but in fact, he acceptingly takes the punishment (which even surprised Dr. Bledsoe). Only after he reads Dr. Bledsoe's letter does he show some anger. It would be nice to see more of the narrator's own self expression.
ReplyDeleteI believe the reason that the book is so focused on the dreamlike state is to sort of show the personal emotion of the narrator. In the beginning of the novel-the prologue-the topic came up about the trustworthiness of the narrator and it was talked about how there could be ways in which he wasn't trustworthy. By writing the chapters in a dreamlike state, it is showing more about how naive the narrator was at that time and even though the scenes could be exaggerated, the character's reaction is what Ellison wants us to focus on.
ReplyDeleteI think ellison operates on the edge of symbolism and reality. There are many scenes we are a bit uncomfortable with the reality of, but not enough to dismiss them. But it's ok if it's not 100 percent realistic. It's Art! so Ellison can turn up the symbolism and make important points about life and history
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