About the Author
Ralph Ellison, one of the most famous black writers of the twentieth century, was virtually unknown as a writer when, in 1952, his novel Invisible […]
Invisible Man
Setting
The story takes place in a small southern town, at the nearby college for blacks, and in New York City during the late 1930s. Although […]
Themes and Characters
Invisible Man’s most important theme is the individual’s quest for identity. The narrator moves from a state of ignorance to a state of enlightenment, represented […]
Literary Qualities
As in the naturalistic novels of Emile Zola, Theodore Dreiser, and Frank Norris, characters in Invisible Man are limited by the circumstances of birth, intelligence, […]
Social Sensitivity
Of universal appeal in its reflection of the human condition, Invisible Man is deeply rooted in the social problems faced by blacks in the United […]
Topics and Ideas for Papers
VII TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Why do the men who are giving the narrator a scholarship put him through such an ordeal at the club? […]