Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man begins with the simple statement “I am an invisible man,” (1). Throughout the novel the main character continuously repeats this phrase as a question of doubt or as a statement describing himself. As his position flips-flops and demonstrates his self-doubt and the doubts of society, the uncertainty of this statement prods the main character, like many, to becoming a statement of action or restraint. In a circular fashion, Ellison continues to present the past and present as one, and for the main character (who remains nameless throughout the novel) to question the meaning of his grandfather’s statements as he drives one of the college’s founders on a questionable journey to a shady part of town. The statements and the drive are two pivotal moments in the main character’s life and they launch him into an uncertain future full of questions, rebukes, and efforts to defy society throughout the novel.
To question Ellison, why does the main character not have a name? He remains nameless throughout the entire novel. Perhaps this is intentional so as to fully create an “invisible man” to demonstrate his lack of power as an African American man. Though the main character’s college dean also has the same skin color as the main character, Dr. Bledsoe explains the power of the Negro man, “Power doesn’t have to show off. Power is confident, self –assuring, self-starting and self-stopping, self-warming and self –justifying. When you have it, you know it…The only ones I even pretend to please are big white folk, and even those I control more than they control me…When you buck against me, you’re bucking against power, rich white folk’s power, the nation’s power- which means the government power!” (142) Thus, even with the same skin color, someone must be above and someone must be bellow, it is a fact in the world as Dr. Bledsoe so poignantly points out. Just like the slaves before him, the main character has no power over himself, others do; he has no name, for this is not mentioned; and his existence is dependent on the will of others, as he must do as they please. Dr. Bledsoe even goes as far to say, “You’re nobody, son. You don’t exist – can’t you see that? ...I didn’t make it, and I know that I can’t change it. But I’ve made my place in it and I’ll have every Negro in the country hanging on tree limbs by morning if it means staying where I am, “ (143) and certainly such statements do not help the main character as he attempts to resolve the uncertainty raised by his own question of whether or not he is invisible.
The main character’s defining event leads him to New York, where despite Dr. Bledsoe’s own beliefs, he learns he is somebody as he speaks and attempts to convince others to join a group similar to the Black Panthers group. Other events result in the main character’s “hibernation” underground far from the eyes of society, and during this period of time, the main character finally finds the truth and he is able to answer his own question concerning his invisibility. The main character, like many, found a period of time when he was invisible. However, he did not go unseen, his voice did not go unheard, and he was not invisible. Truth, though slow in coming, brings the words of the main character to life, “When one is invisible he finds such problems as good and evil, honesty and dishonesty, of such shifting shapes that he confuses one with the other, depending upon who happens to be looking through him at the time,” (572) and thus, he was just unable to see the line between two choices, his past and his present became one, rather than one being a place to move from as he moved to the other.
