Invisible Man
Author’s Purpose: Quest for African American Identity and Personal Identity
Rhetorical Situation
(1) Historical Environment
a. State of racism, Jim Crow, etc.
b. Competing social/intellectual views about how African Americans should seek equal rights
Less Militant
Booker T. Washington
 “racial uplift” and humility
 Key Facet: Education (ex.
Tuskegee Institute)
 Cooperation with supportive
whites was the only way in the
long run to overcome pervasive
racism
 (1895 “Atlanta Compromise”
Speech: give us a chance to
develop separately, implied they
would not push for the vote)
More Militant
W.E.B. Dubois
 Rejected Washington’s self-help;
labeled him “the Great
Accommodator”
 Demanded recourse to Politics
 “The Talented Tenth”
Marxism/Communism
 “The history of all hitherto
existing society is the history of
class struggle” (Communist
Manifesto)
 Key Facet: Economics
 Capitalist system is exploitive
(bourgeoisie vs. proletariat) and
irrational
 Aims to overthrow capitalism and
replace with classless society in
which goods are produced for
usefulness and profitability
 Principles
o (1) “from each according
to their ability, to each
according to their work”
o (2) “From each according
to their ability, to each
according to their needs”
Marcus Garvey
 Grandfather of black nationalism
 Black nationalism (not
multiculturalism)
 Promoted
o (1) Black pride,
o (2) black economic, social,
cultural independence
from whites
 Principles
o (1) race- blacks should
support blacks first and
foremost,
o (2) self reliance- black
people should be
politically and
economically self-reliant,
o (3) nationhood- should
create United States of
Africa to safeguard
interests of blacks
worldwide
c. Post WWI and WWII society (Ellison’s experiences in Federal Writer’s Project, reporting on 1943 riot in Harlem, Merchant Marines, illness,
desire to write prison camp novel which morphed into novel about black identity)
(2) Ellison’s motivations and thoughts
a. Listen to History Channel speech “Ralph Ellison on ‘Invisible Man’”
b. Read 1953 Fiction Award Speech (text)