Ralph Ellison's Veil of Racism

Ralph Ellison's Veil of Racism:

The Blindness of Ignorance

Ralph Ellison wrote Invisible Man about a nameless, young, black male who feels that he is "invisible" to the rest of the world. The invisibility he refers to is metaphorical and stems from stereotypes projected on to him by other people's fixed beliefs. During his misadventures, he is mistaken for a reverend, a pimp, a gambler, a fink, a unionist, a Southern Negro, a New York Negro, a rapist, a lover, a doctor, and a good singer. Because of his own assumptions, he is initially as blinded as his counterparts and unable to see his true self as well as the nature of others. Eventually, he comes to see things in a realistic perspective as the veil of naivety begins to fade. Ironically, the protagonist acts every way except typically. Regardless of his atypical behavior, other characters in the novel are still unable to truly see him due to their own preconceived notions.

One of the first instances of blindness of the book's characters takes place in the third paragraph of the prologue. "One night I accidentally bumped into a man, and perhaps because of the near darkness he saw me and called me an insulting name. I sprang at him, seized his coat lapels and demanded that he apologize. He was a tall blond man, and as my face came close to his he looked insolently out of his blue eyes and cursed me, his breath hot in my face as he struggled" (Ellison 3). The "darkness" Ellison speaks of has multiple meanings in this situation. Other than the literal meaning that suggests dusk or dawn, the narrator is also referring to his skin color, and the fact that other people don't clearly "see" him for who he really is. From the beginning of African slavery leading up to the era in which this story takes place, it was practically unheard of for a black man to attack a white person in public. Despite the abolishment of slavery and the civil rights movement, many white people still believed blacks were inferior and still needed to be subjugated to some degree. This general attitude toward blacks in the United States of America is epitomized in the resurgence of the Klu Klux Klan in the 1950's. An article written in 2001 by the Anti-Defamation League states:

By September 29, 1956, Edwards was able to stage one of the largest Klan rallies in years, drawing a crowd of approximately 3,000 to Stone Mountain, Georgia, the site from which the Second Klan had been launched in 1915. The crowd came in more than 1,000 cars painted with KKK emblems and bearing license plates from seven states - Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, and Louisiana. ( HYPERLINK "http://www.adl.org" www.adl.org )

In those days it would be considered nothing less than suicide for a black person to attack a white person- especially in public. The tall blond man with blue eyes would not have expected the violent response from the narrator after he insulted him; racist behavior was commonplace and seldom acknowledged in those days. The attitude of whites towards blacks up to this time was further reflected in his reaction when he grew even more contemptuous and began to curse him after an apology was demanded of his rudeness. Had the narrator been a white man, the blond man would have likely offered an apology without being prompted. The altercation ultimately suggests that if the blond man had known the invisible man personally, perhaps the "darkness" would have faded, restoring his vision and allowing our invisible man to become visible.

Within the first chapter, our protagonist finds himself the victim of yet another situation involving blindness. He is asked to repeat his high school graduation speech in front of the town's most important men. When he arrives to the location where he is to deliver his prose, he is persuaded to join a "Battle royal" which becomes arguably the most traumatic scene in the book. After the bloody fight renders him senseless, the invisible man is further tortured, when the men play a cruel joke on him and the other black men, by making them try to remove "gold" coins from an electrified surface. When he was finally able to deliver his speech, it is well written and eloquently worded. A prose of that caliber would have been considered impressive even among well educated white people, much less the average poorly educated African-Americans of that period. The men in the room laugh throughout the entire speech and make him repeat any word that had more than three or more syllables in it, many words they themselves did not know and could not pronounce. This further illustrates the ignorance that blinds people to the true nature of others and the meaning of their actions towards them. Despite the fact that he had proven himself to be incredibly intelligent, the spectators nonetheless viewed him as little more than mere entertainment. Within the speech he encourages people his race to see the good in white people. It states that if black people want to improve their situation, they should befriend their white neighbors. Ironically, the same people who just subjected him to a horrifying and humiliating event (Ellison 24).

After his speech he is handed a brand new, leather briefcase. Inside was a scholarship to a Negro college. Initially, he was blinded by his determination to please the white men. The briefcase and scholarship contained within leave the narrator spellbound to the point that he does not recognize nor seem to even mind the incredibly inhumane and derogatory treatment he had but moments ago received. "I was overjoyed; I did not even mind when I discovered that the gold pieces I had scrambled for were brass pocket tokens advertising a certain make of automobile"(Ellison 26). This is a clear example of both parties being blinded; the white men by their racist mentality, the invisible man by his belief in their righteousness.

Later in the story, the main character acquires a job in a paint factory. As he enters the locker room to retrieve his lunch, he finds himself in the middle of a union meeting for factory