Viewing Invisible Man as a Coming of Age Novel
Throughout all of our discussions on Invisible Man, I think we often disregarded the fact that the narrator is fresh out of high school. He is at the beginning of his fully conscious and independent adult life. At the beginning of the novel, we see an innocent and naive author who is portrayed as not being exposed to much racism. Bledsoe calls him a “fool” for not implicitly understanding how he expects Black people to respond to and manipulate White people. This college-aged version of the narrator reacts poorly to Bledsoe, weakly trying to yell at him and fight back, whereas the version of the narrator at the end of the novel might have had a stronger stance. The narrator thinks, “Reluctantly, I sat, torn between anger and fascination, hating myself for obeying (142).” The narrator’s fight with Bledsoe is the first time he seems to feel this frustration and this urge to fight back. Yet, he can’t get out of his view of Bledsoe as an all-knowing and ideal authority. This balance between disagreeing with authorities and looking up to them is one we see through every intense sequence of events in the novel. Every time the narrator encounters a scenario like this he is able to become a bit more confident and independent every time, just as you would as you grow up.
While the narrator becomes more confident with his comebacks, the issues he faces also become more intense. Invisible Man feels like a book that is just a sequence of events, and it can feel tiring in that way, but I also think that organization adds to the final feeling of the narrator: that he needs a break from society as a whole because of the amount of times he has been disrespected emotionally and physically.
At the end of the novel, the narrator burns his belongings of the past. The practical reason is to gain some light in his newfound hole, but I believe this action symbolizes the end of his childhood. The entire novel is him going through a tumultuous journey as a young adult, trying to make sense of what his values are and how he will stand up for them. He experiences the burdens of racial discrimination at such a young age and is learning how to grapple with it as he joins the Brotherhood. By burning his high school diploma and note from Jack, he is letting go of the things he was constantly chasing (approval from Bledsoe and the Brotherhood). While deciding to isolate yourself and stay in a hole isn’t the most mature course of action, it took a lot of strength for the narrator to realize that he needed some time alone to reflect on everything that has happened to him. Instead of letting others decide what to do for him, he decides. As this is one of the only choices in the novel that the narrator makes completely on his own, I believe it marks a turn in his life where he decides to take complete control over it.
I really like your take on this concept, and I never thought of it like this before. There are many aspects in Invisible Man that match the "coming of age" trope, and I think it's important to recognize them. Like you said, I had completely forgotten/disregarded that the narrator was a high school graduate at the beginning of his story, and he is a very young adult navigating his independent life. I do think the narrator learns a lot and grows throughout the novel, and rather than his coming of age simply consisting of typical teenage experiences, they are melded with dark issues of systemic racism.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really interesting post. While reading Invisible Man, it was definitely easy to forget the narrator's youth, and thus the fact that the novel begins at a point in the narrator's life when anybody would still be trying to figure out who they are and their place in the world. I think it makes sense to frame the narrator's growth, especially in his confidence and questioning of authorities, as just part of growing up, in addition to being spurred on by the racism he experiences.
ReplyDeleteI like this idea a lot, and I often like to think about books in terms of coming-of-age dynamics (and I occasionally teach a whole course on the topic). This narrative certainly fits the bill in many ways, although the narrator's development (appropriately, perhaps) is a bit "arrested" compared to the typical c-o-a narrative: his story *begins* at the transitional threshold of adulthood, high school graduation, and we get basically nothing about his formative years before this point. But there are all kinds of coming-of-age implications to all of his "disillusionments" and the developments in his consciousness, and we might view the "discovery" of invisibility as the (ironic) moment when he "finds himself," which is the goal of many c-o-a narratives. There's still that "boomerang" structure, though, which undercuts the dynamic to an extent--this narrator *repeatedly* has to go through rebirths and disillusionments, and his "progress" is often delusional. There are coming-of-age aspects to the narrative, for sure, but (like so many other things) Ellison treats them with a good deal of ironic distance.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even realize I never thought about the fact that the narrator was only about halfway through college for a good portion of the book until I read this post. We see a lot of the typical coming-of-age events in the narrator's story - him leaving "home" (in this case, college) to go somewhere completely new and out of his comfort zone, him exploring that new place, his sexual coming-of-age with that woman, etc. We talk so much about him developing "critical consciousness", but he's also kind of just growing up like how everyone does, learning to think for himself like everyone generally has to. It is a bit of a depressing look at a coming-of-age, since it just ends up being too much for the narrator, but like you said, it does show maturity and independence for the narrator to chose to remove himself from the situation (the situation being all of society).
ReplyDeleteI really like this post, and think that this book can definitely be viewed as a coming of age novel. If we view it this way, I think it's notable that his moments of self-discovery all have to do with him becoming aware of his invisibility. The entirety of his adulthood leads to the realization that his identity is based on the premise that society is too oppressive to allow for anyone to ever see him for who he truly is--this is heartbreaking and emphasizes how much he is affected by racism and oppression. Throughout the book, I think he's controlled by others' perceptions of him, so I fully agree with your point that his decision to isolate in a hole is the only time that he makes a decision for himself rather than for other people.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really great point! So much of the novel was about self-discovery and identity in a complex and overwhelming society, things we often find in a coming of age novel. Until his resolution at the end of the epilogue that maybe he should go back into the world, he's always changing his views and constantly experience new things.
ReplyDeleteI love how you articulated your points and I definitely agree. We see his progression throughout the novel and it really seems like his thoughts and ideas are changing with each couple of chapters which is satisfying (in a way that it connects back to the version of the narrator we see in the introduction too). Seeing the narrator's growth and realizations about society and its affect on him was very eye-opening and I love how Ellison depicted that change.
ReplyDelete