Harlem's black community

The narrator finally moves to Harlem from the south. Harlem is a completely different world to him. There is less racism in Harlem. When he arrives there he sees many black people with regular jobs such as cashiers and policemen. He is shocked by this because he wouldn’t see something like this in the south. White people are nicer in Harlem too.
However the narrator is still a little bit self conscious. He is afraid because of his skin color that he will not make it in Harlem as if he had a better chance in the south.



“White folks were funny; Mr. Bates might not wish to see a Negro the first thing in the morning. I turned and walked down the hall and looked out of the window. I would wait awhile.” (Invisible Man, Page 126)
In this passage he is meeting up with a white man for a job interview because he needed a job to survive. He is scared that the interviewer might not hire him because he is black. The narrator thinks that the white man doesn’t want to see a black man right away in the morning. The narrator actually degrades his race by doing this. He shouldn’t be intimidated by a white man because of his skin color. It doesn’t seem as if the narrator cares too much about racism. He just does whatever he thinks is right and he thinks obeying white people is right. But by doing that he is only setting his people one hundred years back.

Job Interview In Harlem

The narrator finally moves to Harlem from the south. Harlem is a completely different world to him. There is less racism in Harlem. When he arrives there he sees many black people with regular jobs such as cashiers and policemen. He is shocked by this because he wouldn’t see something like this in the south. White people are nicer in Harlem too.
However the narrator is still a little bit self conscious. He is afraid because of his skin color that he will not make it in Harlem as if he had a better chance in the south.

“White folks were funny; Mr. Bates might not wish to see a Negro the first thing in the morning. I turned and walked down the hall and looked out of the window. I would wait awhile.”
In this passage he is meeting up with a white man for a job interview because he needed a job to survive. He is scared that the interviewer might not hire him because he is black. The narrator thinks that the white man doesn’t want to see a black man right away in the morning. The narrator actually degrades his race by doing this. He shouldn’t be intimidated by a white man because of his skin color. It doesn’t seem as if the narrator cares too much about racism. He just does whatever he thinks is right and he thinks obeying white people is right. But by doing that he is only setting his people one hundred years back.

Fighting to Survive

Invisible Man is a compelling story that deals with racism and violence to black people in the south and New York. In chapter one the story grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. Right from the beginning the story is tense and interesting.
“But as we tried to leave we were stopped and ordered to get into the ring. There was nothing to do but what we were told. All ten of us climbed under the ropes and allowed ourselves to be blindfolded with broad bands of white cloth. One of the men seemed to feel a bit sympathetic and tried to cheer us up as we stood with our backs against the ropes. Some of us tried to grin.” (Invisible Man, Page 17)
Chapter one takes place in a hotel. The narrator goes to the hotel to give his speech to the white men that own the town. He is asked to join the entertainment. Little did he know that he was going to be the entertainment. He and some other black men were at a boxing ring watching heavy weight champs fight. Then when they were done the black men were told to fight each other all at the same time. The black men had no choice. They had to obey the white men. They were all blindfolded and they started fighting each other nearly to death. The narrator was the second to last one standing. He got knocked out by a bigger person. The reader can see that the racism already starts from here. The white men have all the power and they can tell the black men whatever they want because they have the authority. The black men didn’t even say anything back to the white men. They just did what they were told because they were scared of them. What happened in this quote is cruel. The white men acted as if they were in Roman times in a coliseum. They watched other men fight each other just for their amusement. Do you think that making the black men fight each other was racist or not?

Invisible Man

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison



Invisible Man talks about a black man’s life in a white world. When it was published in 1952 it was a shocking book when it came out. Nowadays it is an important work of literature because it talks about the hardships of a black man in the south. This book is about a young man’s journey in the south to the streets of New York. As the book goes on the man learns more about the world and starts to have a very different views. This book reveals racism in the U.S.The book starts of with the main characters telling the reader how no one can see him because he is invisible to them. They bump into him as if they don’t even see him. He keeps getting disrespected by people so he doesn’t stand for it anymore. One night he confronts a man for knocking him down on the ground. The invisible man pulls a knife on the man making the man think badly about his race. The white probably thought of him and his people as a violent race. Right at the beginning you can see the racism already starting to form.

Family Reunion

The book ends on a happy note even though it started out with racism and violence. As the years passed by the characters seemed to mature and the violence and racism was starting to fade away. Celie writes her last letter to God, the stars, the sky, the people and everything else. She writes this letter as if it were a prayer. The last letter basically sums up everything they have gone through in the story and how it all turned out. It is about a homecoming of Nettie, Olivia, and Adam. These were the people that were in Africa the whole time the story took place. Celie finally sees her children for the first time. They all have a big family reunion on the Fourth of July. Celie ends the letter by saying Amen. The reader can see that one strong black woman was able to withstand violence and racism from almost everyone in the book. Racism still goes on today but it isn’t as bad as it was back when this story took place.