The Road to Self-Discovery
8:48 PM
If we were to take a look at our identities, most of us would find
ourselves confused. From time to time, we all wear masks and we alter
our identity when we desire conformity. Ask yourself this: how do we respond to outside influences while remaining true to ourselves?
On many occasions, I have found myself in situations where I felt my true
identity should be suppressed. When there are so many expectations placed upon
us, it is tremendously difficult to just be
yourself. It is becoming astoundingly ordinary that these forces greater
than ourselves can manipulate our identity, and since literary themes are
reflective of true-to-life scenarios, it seems reasonable that many works of
literature possess this idea as well.
The unnamed protagonist of Ralph
Ellison’s Invisible Man is a sheer
portrayal of someone struggling to hold on to their identity. Even as a young
boy, the protagonist was faced with outside influence (i.e. his grandfather)
that led him to act and think in a certain way. It is quite evident that his
grandfather’s instructions to “kill” white men with kindness had some type of
impact on who he was as a person. The pressure of being respectful to white men
was quite significant, yet there is another key piece to the puzzle: the
Brotherhood. With the expectation that the protagonist would be obedient and serve
them as they wished, it was hard for him to stay true to his identity. As
readers, we know that he is a man of substance; he is educated, very well
composed, and he is very inspirational. In spite of his brilliant qualities,
the Brotherhood sees him as being a “tool,” therefore stripping him of his
identity.
Upon the realization that the
protagonist is having an inner conflict about his sense of self, we must return
to the previously posed question. If these influences are acting upon him, how
does he remain true to himself? As he looks at his identity in the prologue of Invisible Man, he says that “you often
doubt if you exist” (Ellison 3). It was not until the protagonist came to
ignore these outside influences that he began living true to his identity.
Toward the end of the novel, the protagonist learns to let go of these other
forces and he burns the documents within his briefcase as he moves toward his real
identity. He learns to become “invisible” to those around him so he can be who
he truly wants to be.
The analysis of the “Invisible Man”
lends us an answer to such essential questions. As we delve into the mind of
the protagonist, we discover that remaining true to your identity is – in his
opinion – simply to look past the opinion of others. His character conveys to
readers the message that being invisible to those around us is better than having
others only see you for what they want.
2 comments
To start off, I would just like to point out the picture that you used in your post. Normally when we do these type of assignments we omit the use of the internet, even though that is where we are writing our responses. I personally really liked the quote that you used for two reasons. One, it related to what you were writing about and two, I could relate it to myself. You made me as the reflect on myself and you caused me to ask questions about myself. Then you provided an experience of one person(the protagonist) to support the claims you were making which you did very well. You used textual evidence, explinations, transitions, and an interesting opening paragraph.
ReplyDeleteThis is very well written and I agree with what you're saying about how we respond to outside influences while remaining true to ourselves. I see how the nameless protagonist in Ralph Ellison's invisible man is definitely battling between outside conformity yet questions himself and why he is not showing his true identity. You provide a great look into showing how he reacts because the Brotherhood basically gave him a new identity and he had to go along with it even though in his own mind he was someone else, resulting in him burning his past with the briefcase that symbolizes how he eventually did react to the outside forces while eventually staying true to himself. (116)
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