Invisible man from a historical perspective : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

Abstract

Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man is considered to be a masterpiece of American literature. The following discussion argues that the intellectual journey of the novel's narrator follows a path similar to that of Western Europe's intellectual history. The discussion presents the narrator's movement from feudalism, to enlightenment, to relativism, and finally into existentialism. The value of this understanding of Invisible Man is that the novel may no longer be viewed as a piece of black fiction, but rather as a piece of classical literature that is not exclusive to a single race or environment.