Invisible Man Essay Race, Blindness, and Monstrosity

Race, Blindness, and Monstrosity in Invisible Man Id like to read Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man as the odyssey of one mans search for identity. Try this scenario: the narrator is briefly an academic, then a factory worker, and then a socialist politico. None of these careers works out for him. Yet the narrators time with the so-called Brotherhood, the socialist group that recruits him, comprises a good deal of the novel. The narrator thinks hes found himself through the Brotherhood. Hes the next Booker T. Washington and the new voice of his people. The work hes doing will finally garner him acceptance. Hes home. Its a nice scenario, but the narrator realizes his journey must continue when Jack, the†¦show more content†¦Brother, are you following me? He stopped, squinting at me with Cyclopean irritation. (Ellison, Invisible Man, 409-410) Jack takes pride in his disfigurement. He uses it as a weapon against Invisible Man, attempts to distract him. Its a bad tactic. In the moment Jack reveals himself as a Cyclops he gives the Invisible Man the weapon of history. The Greek hero Odysseus blinds Polyphemos the Cyclops and escapes. Invisible Man does the same, though not quite so literally: He was gloating now, holding up the eye in the glass as though it were a medal of merit . . . He slammed the glass upon the table, splashing the water on the back of my hand. I shook like a leaf. So that is the meaning of discipline, I thought, sacrifice . . . yes, and blindness; he doesnt even see me. (Ellison, Invisible Man, 411). Invisible Man is immune to Jacks rage because Jack doesnt see him; blindness is employed both literally and figuratively. Jack cannot see out of his glass eye and he cannot see the Invisible Man as a man. He stutters and stammers, slams his glass on the table and demands sacrifice. In his rage Jack resembles Polyphemos, Homers creation, but bears an even more striking similarity to James Joyces cyclopean miscreant, that ardent nationalist known only as The Citizen. Putting Homer, Joyce, and Ellison in dialogue with one another yields surprising results: a map of blindness, racism, andShow MoreRelatedOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 Pagesconstruction as disciplined imagination’, Academy of Management Review 14:516–531. Willmott, H.C. (1998) ‘Re-cognizing the other: Reflections of a new sensibility in social and organization studies’, in R. Chia (ed.), In the Realm of Organization: Essays for Robert Cooper, London: Routledge. . Chapter 2 Modernist organization theory: back to the future? Introduction This chapter explores one of the key social movements, known as modernism, which continues to influence the development