A Young Invisible Man and His Struggle
The bulk of our introduction to Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man is experienced in Chapter one of the novel in which our protagonist himself is thrust into a strange and uncomfortable situation. Initially told that he has been given the opportunity to recite his speech in front of a number of wealthy and influential men, the invisible man later finds out that he must go through much more before he can do this. Mixed up with numerous other black boys around his age, the invisible man is forced to fight his way to his ultimate moment. Even after this fight, the boys are later tricked and tortured as they attack each other for money that lies on an electrically charged rug.
However, throughout all of this pain, agony, embarrassment, and torment our protagonist seems only concerned with one thing, his speech: “I felt myself bombarded with punches. I fought back with hopeless desperation. I wanted to deliver my speech more than anything else in the world, because I felt that only these men could judge truly my ability…” (25). Except what ability are they judging? His ability to fight and entertain, or his ability as a student? As the invisible man continues on in his battle, he hears a man from the crowd shout, “I got my money on the big boy” (25). These words paralyze the invisible man as he is unsure if he should continue on or succumb to his competitor: “Should I try to win against the voice out there? Would not his go against my speech, and was not this a moment for humility, for nonresistance?” (25). Here, the invisible man is experiencing the struggle between his “social” responsibility to obey those above him and his personal responsibility to respect himself. I think our protagonist will encounter multiple situations similar to this throughout our reading that will test his morals, ideals, and fortitude.