Character Analysis: The Invisible Man

In the novel, the Invisible Man is constantly trying to find his identity, but in order for him to do that he has to go through some terrible experiences. From the gruesome battle royal to the riots in Harlem, society pushes down the Invisible Man. In the novel, the Invisible Man is constantly trying to find his identity, but in order for him to do that he has to go through some terrible experiences. He was in the south where he was horrifically discriminated and later kicked out for trying to do what was best. he then goes north where he joins the brotherhood. Once again, he finds himself surrounded by people that just want to use him and throw him out when they are done with him. The Invisible Man’s journey to find freedom from the whites’ superiority is illustrated through his four different changes: geographic, social, historical, and philosophical.
Geographically, the Invisible Man moves from the south to the north, but not just that. He changes and moves in the way he thinks. A way this is shown is when he goes into that diner to get some breakfast. The man asks if he wants the special which is a very southern meal, stereotyping the IM. The Invisible Man conforms to the north society and decides to have toast and coffee. This shows how he changed from being the typical black southerner to a common white person. Even though he changes in a negative way he does end up changing back to his old ways and heritage. “Perhaps to lose a sense of where you are implies the danger of losing a sense of who you are” (Ellison). Before his realization, he was oblivious to the fact that he was in the north, accepting that he was part of a white man’s world. But at the same time forgetting his home town in the south, losing his heritage and who he really is. This quote could show that he has finally realized that he is no longer going to conform to the white society and be who he wants to be. This is how the Invisible Man changes to find freedom from the white man’s superiority geographically. The Invisible Man doesn’t only change geographically in his journey, but socially and historically too. The Invisible Man’s journey showed in our history, how the corruption of whites kept blacks under their foot, and in a way treated them like animals and property. The social corruption is shown everywhere in the book, but one scene in particular pokes out greatly. This scene is the battle royal. During this scene the IM is horrifically discriminated by being forced to fight other black men blindfolded. Now historically this did not really happen, but it could have and maybe even worse like fighting to the death. These types of actions back then were not enforced by the law, because the law did not care about the black race. If you were black you had to conform to the white ways or be pushed down by society and that is exactly what the IM did until he realized his problem. “I was pulled this way and that for longer than I can remember. and my problem was that I always tried to go in everyone’s way but my own” (Ellison). This once again shows how he has realized that society is the issue and he needs to break free from it and do what he wants even though it is against society thinks. Society back then thought that blacks could not think for themselves and had to be told what to do. A good example in the novel of our corrupt society and history was during the Harlem riot. Clifton getting shot by the police officer triggered these riots. In history, there are reports of police officers unlawfully shooting unarmed black men, so the author may have put this in the book because …show more content…
The IM moved from the racist south to the north, from trying to conform to white society, and from the whites seeing for him to him seeing for himself. Without these changes the author could not show how the Invisible Man goes from having no identity, to fulfilling his life with what he believes in, which is fighting for freedom from white