After starting Invisible man, I’m interested in the multiple ways in which Ellison implicitly develops themes. Instead of bluntly outlining the main character’s feelings for us constantly, he describes actions and surroundings in an implicit manner which not only allows us to get a feel for what it is like to be this character, but let’s us analyze these descriptors to decide his true feelings. I really liked the paragraph on pg 22 that starts with “Blindfolded, I could no longer control my emotions,” for this purpose; the main character focuses much more on describing his fear implicitly than merely recounting his state in an explicit manner.

The fact that much of Ellisons’s meaning is written in an implicit manner also highlights the fact that his main character is ‘invisible’. The narrator would not be able to just walk in somewhere, say his opinion, and expect to see it put in place. Instead, he must try to do what his grandfather suggested and weasle his way in slowly (sadly by degrading himself to be a ‘yes’ man) and try to influence change from the inside. The scene where he reads his speech, but is ignored and/or laughed at for the most part is a good example of this.
He wasn’t able to successfully affect most of the white men at the same time, but the superintendent did recognize his gift and, while it was tainted with racist sentiment, gave him a scholarship and promise that he would go on to do great things. I believe that at the time, however, the superintendent believed that the main character would influence the rest of his race to fall in line and submit to the white men, as the narrator had done that night.