I have also read Invisible Man before in high school, but I don't have very vivid memories of the book. I'm actually surprised that I remember the general characteristics of the different characters when they are mentioned. And I actually remember general themes throughout the novel (light and dark, visibility, etc).
What I am excited about in this second read is how different I am as a senior in college than a senior in high school. I think that the experience of having gone to a fairly diverse and liberal arts school (one of the more liberal southern schools) has impacted me greatly in how I interpret society. I've changed tremendously throughout these 4 years, and I've been in many, many classes that have discussed racial inequality in America and in the South. Now better educated and better conscious of American society and all in entails, I think that my experience reading this novel will be even more impacting than it was the first time.
Ellison puts readers into the moments that he is living through. I think he does a great job engaging readers to really understand and feel as if they were there experiencing it with them. He is so descriptive and some of the events seem so bizarre (since society has changed so much since then) that it creates this surreal and dream like feeling. I think this style succeeds because it helps connect the reader into the narrator's experiences.
I also read Invisible Man as a junior in High School and our teacher had us dissect every little detail of the book, but I was three years younger at the time so I'm excited to see what more I get out of it during this second reading of it. I am also reading it in a different context this time as opposed to the previous with regard to the other books we have read in this class. Junior year the class I took was American Literature II which focused on American Literature after 1945 so the other books we read included "The Bluest Eye", "Broken Glass", "Death of a Salesman", etc. and we compared it to those books. This time I'll get to analyze it referencing different novels of a similar topic.
ReplyDeleteI have not gotten to read this book as of yet... and i have to say i'm fairly grateful. I don't think i could have put it in the right context. I think i would have been sad for the narrator but i don't know that i would have been able to understand the historical significance of the systematic abuse he is subject to. I've taken American History since 1865 (with Monte Hampton... Highly highly recommend this class for people still registering). For that class we had to read essays from both Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Debois. The internal struggle that the narrator faces daily reminds me of W.E.B dubois' response to Washington's speech at the Atlanta Exhibition (which i believe he quotes several times within the first chapter or two). On the one hand he feels the need to be pleasing to the whites... sort of a "remember that whole centuries of physical and psychological abuse? It's fine, forgive and forget!" Then on the other side he is struggling with the final words of his grandfather which was much more representative of Dubois' feelings about racism in America- Don't ask for equality, Demand it!" Emma R and i are both in AFAM 101 (another recommended course) and so we're getting the history of the treatment of African americans dating back to the transatlantic slave trade. It's just really upsetting to see that the abuse suffered by African americans, though different than say Antebellum era african americans, is no less damaging to persons in the early part of the 20th century. I'm glad that i can put this novel into the context of American history. I think if i had to read this in high school i would see it only in the context of the 1920's. I think if that was the case i would be seriously missing out on a more significant reading of the book.
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