Light in the Darkness
In Ralph Ellison’s novel The Invisible Man, our protagonist's story begins at the end. He has resorted to squatting within the basement of a building. He explains how he has sought affirmative action for his treatment in society as an invisible man and is rewarded reparations, so to say, through Monopolized light and power. The image of light serves to show the reader how the Invisible Man's relationship with society progressively deteriorates as he comes closer towards self realization as he opens his tale, "The truth is light and light is the truth (7).” In the prologue Invisible Man describes his living quarters. the Invisible Man already has a shaky relationship with light and therefore with society. "My hole is warm …show more content…
As we reach the epilogue we find that the Invisible Man is actually right where he left off. Learning of the Invisible Man’s story then begins to show the flaws he saw in society. The Invisible Man admits that the more he lied, the more he was loved, and the more he was honest, the more he was hated. This can be seen as a metaphor in itself. Light takes the place of the truth, as showing the world’s true light and colors, exposes it for being what it really is. The world to him is indubitably a horrible place as he finds he can’t out run his place in society, so sadly he hides from it. Even worse is the fact that the Invisible Man has the epiphany that this is inescapable “… but then I remind myself that the true darkness lies within my head… (579).” In this realization we are given the deepest understanding of the Invisible Man. The quote comes at a time when IM was thinking of heading back to the south, but then he thinks and knows. The injustices he faces here, will end up being the same there. The darkness in his head is much more than just an epiphany but a tell tale of the society that has oppressed him for as long as he can remember. The light for the Invisilbe Man is sadly locked out of his head, because nothing will change, or at least not now. For IM to truly experience light and freedom in his own head, the entire society would have to be reconstructed. The pigment of one’s skin has always acted as a right of way in society so far, and will probably continue to do so for ages to come unfortunately. But in the case of the IM the pigment of his skin actually acted as a societal light switch. The Invisible Man was invisible, but not blind. The truth was brought to light to him, and he remained in the darkness; his lightbulb is burnt
In Ralph Ellison’s novel The Invisible Man, our protagonist's story begins at the end. He has resorted to squatting within the basement of a building. He explains how he has sought affirmative action for his treatment in society as an invisible man and is rewarded reparations, so to say, through Monopolized light and power. The image of light serves to show the reader how the Invisible Man's relationship with society progressively deteriorates as he comes closer towards self realization as he opens his tale, "The truth is light and light is the truth (7).” In the prologue Invisible Man describes his living quarters. the Invisible Man already has a shaky relationship with light and therefore with society. "My hole is warm …show more content…
As we reach the epilogue we find that the Invisible Man is actually right where he left off. Learning of the Invisible Man’s story then begins to show the flaws he saw in society. The Invisible Man admits that the more he lied, the more he was loved, and the more he was honest, the more he was hated. This can be seen as a metaphor in itself. Light takes the place of the truth, as showing the world’s true light and colors, exposes it for being what it really is. The world to him is indubitably a horrible place as he finds he can’t out run his place in society, so sadly he hides from it. Even worse is the fact that the Invisible Man has the epiphany that this is inescapable “… but then I remind myself that the true darkness lies within my head… (579).” In this realization we are given the deepest understanding of the Invisible Man. The quote comes at a time when IM was thinking of heading back to the south, but then he thinks and knows. The injustices he faces here, will end up being the same there. The darkness in his head is much more than just an epiphany but a tell tale of the society that has oppressed him for as long as he can remember. The light for the Invisilbe Man is sadly locked out of his head, because nothing will change, or at least not now. For IM to truly experience light and freedom in his own head, the entire society would have to be reconstructed. The pigment of one’s skin has always acted as a right of way in society so far, and will probably continue to do so for ages to come unfortunately. But in the case of the IM the pigment of his skin actually acted as a societal light switch. The Invisible Man was invisible, but not blind. The truth was brought to light to him, and he remained in the darkness; his lightbulb is burnt