Is Invisible Man Ellison’s own Wonder Woman?
I found Jill Lepore’s lecture on the secret history of Wonder Woman to be both intriguing and enlightening. I hadn’t realized how complex and historical Wonder Woman was to America and the women’s suffrage movement. One part of Lepore’s presentation that most interested me was the family history and secrecy behind the man that created Wonder Woman: William Moulton Marston. Lepore illustrated how Marston’s own life was thoroughly woven throughout the story line of Wonder Woman including references to his alma mater, Harvard, as well as some influential professors. At the end of her presentation, Lepore posed the ultimate question: who is Wonder Woman? It is clear that the many important women in Marston’s life played a huge role in defining who Wonder Woman was and what she stood for. Lepore, however, also noted that, in a way, Wonder Woman is a manifestation of Marston himself.
In relation to our reading of Ellison’s works, this notion lead me to consider his possible relationship with certain characters in his iconic novel Invisible Man. How much personal information and autobiography did Ellison include in this piece? And how much is it a reflection of his reality during such an unstable time in American history? When we reach this point in the course, I plan to keep these questions in mind while reading Ellison’s Invisible Man.
I agree, I found it very interesting that the family kept so many secrets about Wonder Woman for such a long time. But to go along with your other point, I feel like most writers and artists include themselves in many aspects of their works, whether it is the inspiration for a character or lyrics of a song. I also feel like it is important for a character like Wonder Woman to be relatable to the numerous readers of the comic, no matter the gender. Lepore noted that the majority of readers of comics are men, so if Wonder Woman wasn’t able to be related to or liked by men, then she would never be as popular as she is now. Therefore, Marston pulled qualities that he felt would best form Wonder Woman from the women in his life and from within himself.