Emma Roe
July 26th, 2015
Mr. Flanagan
Invisible Man In the novel Invisible Man the invisible man is living in a society that predetermines his fate. He spends his whole life trying to find himself and create his own path, but the racist ways that were set before him stick with him through it all. In this novel the people surrounding the hero have a huge impact on him finding himself as well. “I am an invisible man... I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids- and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” (Ellison 3) Through the whole novel the invisible man never truly finds his individuality. From the beginning the path the hero was headed down was set by the people who came before him. He did all he could to create his own path but he was caught in the visions that the other people had of him. His grandparents lived during the time of slaves and his…show more content… When Brother Jack takes the people to Harlem to give there speeches the invisible man’s speech told exactly why he couldn’t find his own individuality. He says “and do you know what makes us so uncommon? We let them do it.” (Ellison 343) He didn’t know better than to do what he was told to do. He did not strive to be different, because of the fear of what might be done to him next. He just wanted to fit in with society, making him just like all the other people. Even after the speech in Harlem, the invisible man started to travel and give speeches all over, but he kept having flash backs to his old ways of Dr. Bledsoe, his grandfather, and other men. He was holding back from the world he could have had. He is holding back from creating an identity for himself. In order to create his own identity he had to break away from his past, and he was unable to do