Ralph Ellison Was the Grandson of Slaves.

¶ … Ralph Ellison was the grandson of slaves. He was born in Oklahoma in 1914, where he was also raised (Tulsa). He developed a love for jazz music at a very young age, and Ellison maintained a circle of friends that included many jazz musicians. He studied two instruments - the coronet, and the trumpet, with intentions of becoming a "jazz man" himself. He studied music at the prominent black college founded by Booker T. Washington, the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. After a three-year period, he left Alabama for New York, where he became friends with such African-American writers as Richard Wright, and Langston Hughes. He worked as an editor of an African-American newsletter before serving during World War II as a Merchant Marine. After his stint in the war, Ellison received a fellowship, which he used to fund his only novel ever completed - Invisible Man. The full, complete manuscript was published in 1952. The novel received unprecedented critical acclaim, as well as success commercially. Ellison worked on another novel, but died in 1994 before the work was completed. He published two collections of essays, but the success of Invisible Man may have prevented Ellison from writing more than he did.

MAIN CHARACTERS

The main character, our protagonist, is nameless. He is the embodiment of the title - Invisible Man. He is the narrator meaning that he is telling the story, but he is also the main character, and the focus of the novel's progression. The story focuses on the changes that happen morally and emotionally to the narrator's character. While he remains nameless, he does develop into his own person by the stories resolution - he goes from a more innocent person who looks for the best in people, to a more realistic person with a less romanticized look at the world around him.

Brother Jack is the leader of the Brotherhood. Brother Jack starts out as a seemingly decent person, especially to the narrator, to whom he gives money, a job, and hope that prejudice can be overcome. As the novel progresses, and the narrator begins to view the world through more realistic eyes, he begins to realize that Brother Jack has just used him as a means to an end - he uses the narrator to further his own agenda. To the narrator and the reader, it becomes clear that Brother Jack has the same prejudices as the white people in the novel - his prejudice is no different simply because he is black. He is trying to oppress the black race just as much as the white people were.

ELEMENTS OF PLOT