The Author And His Times - 2459 Words

The Author and His Times: Ralph Ellison was a black American who grew up in segregated America during the 1910s and 1920s. In 1933, Ellison became a student at the Tuskegee Institute, a revered all-black college founded by Booker T. Washington, and was accepted due to the need for a trumpet player in the band. Invisible Man and its plot are mainly shaped from Ellison’s history as a jazz musician, allowing for a dynamic flow throughout the whole piece. Three years later, he left for New York to help pay for his college expenses, but never returned to Tuskegee. Settling down in Harlem, Ellison was able to meet some of the largest African-American names in writing, namely Langston Hughes. Harlem’s influence on Invisible Man is quite†¦show more content†¦The narrator is the protagonist, as the memories being delved into are his own. The purpose of this extended flashback episode is to show evolution of the narrator in both personality and maturity. Characters: Narrator: The narrator never tells the audience his name, but does call himself the Invisible Man. He does so to convey that as a black American, he is merely a portrayal of common stereotypes, and invisible to society as a result. He is also a dynamic character, as he shows a progression of maturity and a change in personality. As a round character, the narrator is multi-faceted and shows different emotions towards the same subjects. Towards the end of the novel, the narrator takes the idea of invisibility to heart, assuming the identity of a Reverend in the area known as Rinehart. Tod Clifton: Tod Clifton is a young, attractive, black man who the narrator meets through the Brotherhood. Clifton does not change very much throughout the story, only leaving the Brotherhood for some unknown reason. After Clifton is shot in the street by a policeman, his identity turns from a man to a martyr, leading to riots throughout Harlem. Brother Jack: Brother Jack is a white man and the leader of the Brotherhood. He constantly claims he is for black equality, but is blind to compassion and can only see people as tools to get what he wants. This blindness is not only mental, but physical, as his left eye