Adulthoo Adulthood In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
480 Words2 Pages
In Ralph Ellison’s, Invisible Man, the main character on no account establishes exactly who he is. Society persistently scoops him up and masticates him until they are done and then expectorates him back out. Not knowing who you are in a world that is exceedingly narcissistic with themselves is completely farcical. On the other hand, with a world that so often strives to mold and configure “individuals” as if they are play-dough, it reaches to the juncture that they “no longer [know] [their] own name” (239). As the constant swirl of desired trends circle throughout the air, they start the teasing at the beginning of grade school. By the time middle school rolls around, an “individual” experiences the vulnerable years an adolescent. Middle schoolers reach the point that when they are “left alone, [they] lay fretting over [their] identity” (242). As they lay contemplating these concepts, they begin “a kind of combat” between themselves and society (242). This is the start of the madness that society calls “normal,” when in reality an experience such as this builds a mask over faces. This mask allows for the idea “I am what they think I am” to become modern (379). This allows true identity to be hidden.…show more content… As the first official job starts, “the new suit [imparts] a newness to [them]” (335). Feeling rejuvenated, they are prepared to compete in any way possible to keep their job, even if it means changing who they are. It was the “clothes and the new name and the circumstances…[that] was becoming [the] [start] of someone else” (335). Bosses are “very much the same, each attempting to force [his/her] picture of reality” upon their employees (508). Never once do they ask “how things [look] to [their] [employees],” for fear that they will not conform to the perception of a perfect employee