Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man: Social Success vs. Individuality

Introduction: The Myth of Social Success

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is a remarkable work widely acknowledged for its ruthless exposure of the American Dream as a myth. However, while Ellison may have used American history and culture as the backdrop for his novel, focusing on his exposé of the American Dream alone is a far too restrictive assessment of his work. Ellison's main purpose in the novel seems to have been to question the fundamental worth of the universally characteristic human quest for social success. He achieves this by highlighting the fact that social success is usually built and maintained through hypocrisy, deceit, sycophancy, and power plays. Thus, Invisible Man is a novel that establishes the hollowness of social success when measured against the loss of individual values, dignity, and freedom. It is precisely the loss of individuality that is signified in the work's title.

Ellison uses the experiences of the main protagonist — the invisible man — to demonstrate the worthlessness of trying to achieve social success. He begins his exposé in the prologue itself by explaining what it means to an individual to be invisible to society: "I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook.... I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone...and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me." (Prologue)

Ellison's opening salvo cleverly highlights the fact that the protagonist, an African American, never had much hope of attaining the American Dream. It was of little consequence whether he possessed a mind or was, indeed, a man of substance. All that mattered was that he belonged to the Black race, and that was the only identity he possessed in the eyes of society.

Although Ellison begins his novel in this fashion, he goes on to narrate how his protagonist came to grasp the fact that he was invisible to society. His introduction succeeds in making the later narrative of the invisible man's journey — from innocent hope and optimism to disillusionment and finally self-realization — all the more poignant. This is particularly so because Ellison makes it clear that the invisible man's concept of success was initially no different from that of the average American, whether white or Black. Indeed, every reader would probably empathize with the invisible man's description of his dreams of success: "...Influential with wealthy men all over the country; consulted in matters concerning the race; a leader of his people; the possessor of not one, but two Cadillacs; a good salary...." (p. 87)

The American Dream and Its Racial Limits

Similarly, it is also evident that the invisible man's initial strategy for success was modeled on the promises held out by the American Dream: "For, like almost everyone else in our country, I started out with my share of optimism. I believed in hard work and progress and action...." (p. 562) Ellison thus invokes sympathy for the invisible man by demonstrating how his innocent desire for success was fueled by the propaganda of the American Dream — a dream never sincerely intended for the Black community. This inference can be drawn from Dr. Bledsoe's admonishment to the invisible man: "With all your speechmaking and studying I thought you understood something.... These white folks have newspapers, magazines, radios, spokesmen to get their ideas across. If they want to tell the world a lie, they tell it so well that it becomes the truth." (p. 129)

Perhaps the more concrete evidence that the American Dream was always meant to be out of the reach of the racially discriminated and the socially downtrodden lies in the silence that greets the invisible man when he mistakenly utters the phrase "social equality" during his speech at the first Battle Royal: "The laughter hung smokelike in the sudden stillness.... Sounds of displeasure filled the room." (p. 5)

In his innocence and naivety, however, the invisible man fails to recognize that he is chasing a pipe dream. Instead, he is so single-mindedly focused on achieving success that he takes all the humiliation of the "battle royal" in his stride, ironically worrying only that fighting might detract from the dignity of his speech (p. 1). The invisible man cuts a rather pathetic figure here, especially when he is so pleased with the scholarship he receives that he entirely forgets the humiliation and shame he had to endure to obtain it (p. 5).

The promises held out by the American Dream may deceive the invisible man, but he is by no means without fault himself. On the contrary, he displays all the frailty of human nature, as evidenced by the measures he takes in his pursuit of success. He does work hard at his studies, but it is equally apparent that he works just as hard at winning the approval of wealthy, successful people like Norton: "...it was advantageous to flatter rich white folks. Perhaps he'd give me a large tip, or a suit, or a scholarship next year." (p. 5) Ellison's portrayal of the invisible man is therefore that of a sycophant — an individual without self-respect or dignity.

In addition, Ellison makes it amply evident that positive measures such as studying and hard work were simply not sufficient to assure the invisible man's success. Achieving his ambition also meant playing up to white people while simultaneously distancing himself from his own heritage: "...for a moment I had almost allowed an old, southern backwardness which I had thought dead to wreck my career." (p. 394) Success, therefore, was the holy grail at whose altar the invisible man saw fit to sacrifice all decent values, including dignity and self-respect.

Sycophancy and the Sacrifice of Self-Respect

The invisible man also displays a calculating nature in his quest for social recognition. For instance, he is enthralled by Barbee's sermon, following which he resolves to "learn the platform tricks of the leading speakers. And I would make the best of my contacts. When I met the big men...I would put on my best manner...." (p. 143)

Interestingly, by portraying the invisible man as an individual with highly questionable values, Ellison spares neither white nor Black characters in his effort to establish that social success is usually gained through a loss of individual values, dignity, and freedom. It is this aspect of Invisible Man that gives the novel its universal relevance and validity across cultures and societies, as it effectively illustrates the price that inevitably must be paid in any blind quest for social success.

The invisible man eventually pays the price for his misguided behavior and values, as his quest for success leads to disappointment and finally disillusionment. Had he not pandered to Norton, he might never have been expelled from college. While the invisible man's actions here may invite contempt, his naivety in failing to recognize that power can be covertly exercised must also be acknowledged. This is perhaps the only point at which the invisible man's strategy for success differs from that of Dr. Bledsoe: "Hadn't I seen him approach white visitors...with his hat in hand, bowing humbly and respectfully?" (p. 92) What the invisible man fails to realize, however, is that Dr. Bledsoe is merely wearing a mask while manipulating the situation to his advantage all along: "We take these white folks where we want them to go." (p. 88)

Conclusion: The Hollowness of Social Recognition

Through the journey and coming of age of the invisible man, Ellison paints a vivid picture of a world where the human quest for power and social success results in hypocrisy, deceit, sycophancy, and manipulation, leaving no room for individual dignity or personal freedom. In effect, Ellison uses the concept of the invisible man to establish the hollowness of social success when measured against the loss of humane values.