You may be looking for the H.G. Wells novel.
Invisible Man is a novel written by Ralph Ellison. Released in 1952, it is Ellison's debut novel and features an unnamed black narrator travelling the world.
Characters[]
- The narrator
rest to be added
Publisher's Summary[]
First published in 1952 and immediately hailed as a masterpiece, Invisible Man is one of those rare novels that have changed the shape of American literature. For not only does Ralph Ellison's nightmare journey across the racial divide tell unparalleled truths about the nature of bigotry and its effects on the minds of both victims and perpetrators, it gives us an entirely new model of what a novel can be.
As he journeys from the Deep South to the streets and basements of Harlem, from a horrifying "battle royal" where black men are reduced to fighting animals, to a Communist rally where they are elevated to the status of trophies, Ralph Ellison's nameless protagonist ushers readers into a parallel universe that throws our own into harsh and even hilarious relief. Suspenseful and sardonic, narrated in a voice that takes in the symphonic range of the American language, black and white, Invisible Man is one of the most audacious and dazzling novels of our century.
Plot[]
Prologue[]
The narrator begins the tale by reminiscing on his invisibility. He is not invisible in any conventional ways - he is simply invisible because people do not view him. They view everything around him - ignoring him completely. The narrator is mostly fine with this invisibility. However, there are times that he accidentally bumps into people and sometimes he feels as though he should bump back.
The narrator then begins to recount an incident when a man bumped into him. The man called him an insulting name and the narrator thrashed the man - brutally beating him - while demanding that the man apologize. The narrator nearly kills the man with a knife but decides against it - simply letting him lie in the street moaning and brutalized. The narrator was initially disgusted by this but is now amused by the fact that - for all intents and purposes - the man was mugged by an invisible man. Seeing the news of his mugging only amuses him further.
The narrator then begins to tell of his "fight" with Monopolated Light & Power - secretly draining a lot of power without their permission. The narrator used to buy power from the company before he discovered his invisibility but now he simply steals. The narrator used to live in an apartment but now lives in a forgotten basement completely rent-free. The narrator describes this home as a "hole" - a hole that is warm and full of light. His hole has exactly 1,369 filament lightbulbs in it - all on at the same time. The narrator intends on covering every surface of the hole with lightbulbs. Also in the hole is a radio-phonograph. The narrator intends on gaining four more so that he can play five different recordings of Louis Armstrong at the same time. The narrator then begins to reminisce on the time that he was given a reefer when he asked for a cigarette by "some jokers". After smoking, the narrator felt himself descending into the music.
Entering into a "cave", the narrator finds an old woman singing a spiritual. The narrator then finds a younger woman standing in front of slaveowners bidding for her body on a "lower level". "Below" this is a preacher shouting to a crowd on a text called the Blackness of Blackness. The narrator watches the sermon before he is torn from it by the old woman that sung the spirituals. The narrator and the old woman get into a debate on the old woman's love and hate of the slave master that gave her several sons. Once the narrator leaves, one of the old woman's sons brutalizes the narrator for making his mother cry through the debate - nearly killing the narrator through strangulation. The son allows the narrator to leave - stumbling away.
The narrator then breaks out of his fugue - sitting in his chair in a soaking sweat. The narrator, looking back at the fugue - sees it as exhausting and strangely satisfying. The narrator reveals that he considers himself in "hibernation" until he prepare for "more overt action" and that he would never do drugs again because they may make him miss his window of opportunity for overt action. The narrator ends the prologue by explaining how he was in the right for the mugging detailed earlier and then starts to recollect he became "so blue".
Chapter One[]
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See Also[]
| Title | Author | Release date | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native Son | Richard Wright | 1940 | Another novel which similarly examines African-American culture |
| The Catcher in the Rye | J.D. Salinger | 1951 | Another novel with a similar narrator |
| Divine Days | Leon Forrest | 1992 | Another novel which similarly examines African-American culture |
| Go Tell It on the Mountain | James Baldwin | 1953 | A memoir which similarly examines African-American culture |
| The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store | James McBride | 2023 | Another novel which similarly examines African-American culture |
| I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | Maya Angelou | 1969 | A memoir which similarly examines African-American culture |
| Annie Allen | Gwendolyn Brooks | 1949 | A collection of poetry which similarly examines African-American culture |
| Their Eyes Were Watching God | Zora Neale Hurston | 1937 | Another novel which similarly examines African-American culture |
| Beloved | Toni Morrison | 1987 | Another novel which similarly examines African-American culture |
Sources[]
(PLACEHOLDER)