The Crisis of Political Identity in nvisibl e M an Ralph Ellison's I nvisibl
Mohamed Nouhi
:. Cultural identity is a vexing question within Afro-American political thinking. It has been one the most central preoccupations for major black intellectuals who have addressed the issue from different conceptual paradigms. Ralph Ellison’s magnum opus Invisible Man1 is a penetrating bildungroman tracing the protagonist journey from ignorance to self-discovery. This paper aims to explore the irrelevance of three political ideologies to cope with the plight of the blacks in America. My point of departure will examine the tradition of Booker L.Washington on the light of the individualistic opportunism of his disciple Dr Bledsoe. Then, the focus will shift to the communist ideology of the Brotherhood organisation, and finally to the chauvinistic Black Nationalism led by Ras the exhorter. Through the investigation of the Invisible M an’s decision to burn all the papers of his past identifications including the t he briefcase briefcase papers, Bledsoe’s letters, and letters, and the Brotherhood’s card, card, the novel reveals the collapse of these ideological doctrines to approach the question of identity for the African-American community. Indeed, the protagonist's choice to remain anonymous from the beginning until the end of the novel stresses a conscious rejection of all types of identifications imposed upon him and a constant search for another authentic identity. For a start, Bledsoe the dean of the college, represents the philosophy of Booker T.Washington who preaches that through education in crafts, industrial skills, and the cultivation of virtues of patience, thrift and entreprise, the blacks can improve their 1
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man Man( England: Penguin Books, 1952).
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living conditions. During his life, he urges them to temporarily abandon their efforts to win full civil rights and political power and instead to concentrate on attaining economic security. Blacks would thus accept segregation, but their eventual acquisition of wealth and culture would gradually win for them the respect and acceptance of the white community. The cornerstones of his philosophy are founded on “the ethos of humility as the essence of progress”, “accommodation to the harsh reality of racism”, and a “racial uplift through self -sufficiency and self-reliance”. He established the Tuskegee Institute in 1881 and presided it until his death in 1915. The college depends on the financial contributions of the white community. In the novel, college students deem the founder as a prophet-like figure with divine revelations and unprecedented mission bringing salvation to the black folks. For example, the shepherd Reverend Homer Barbeei in his long moving sermon reminds his mixed audience of the outstanding unique qualities of the founder:
I’m sure you have heard it time and time again; of this godly man’s Labour, his great humility and his undimming vision, the fruits of which you enjoy today; concrete, made flesh, his dream, conceived in the starkness and darkness of slavery, fulfilled now even in the air you breathe, in the sweet harmonies of your blended voices, in the knowledge which each of you . . . .You must see this slave, this black Aristotle, moving slowly, with sweet patience, with a patience not of mere man, but of God-inspired faith . . . seeking for you that bright horizon which you now enjoy . . . you have heard his name from your parents, for it was he who leads them to the path, guiding them like a great Captain; like that great pilot of ancient times who led his people safe and unharmed across the bottom of the blood-red sea. (101-02)
However, throughout the novel, Bledsoe’s conduct reveals that he uses Washingtonian principles as a guise to hide his true identity. He ingratiates himself into the good graces of the wealthy white residents, wining their good will by doing services for them. “The only ones I even pretend to please are big white folk, and even those I control more than they control me”(119). His policy is concerned with securing his political power and controlling the educational college regardless of his black fellows’ interests. In addition, his behaviour is rooted in Pragmatic individualism. He considers -2-
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that his personal privileges can be guaranteed only by the preservation of the status quo. For him, the protagonist constitutes a challenge to the established political order and an undesirable element who can upset the stability of society. That is why he reminds him of the helplessness of his attempt to change the situation on the one hand, and the complex network of ruling the college: “You are nobody, son. You don’t exist - can’t you see that? . . . . Well, that’s the way it is. It’s a nasty deal and I don’t like i t myself. But you listen to me: I didn’t make it, and I know that I can’t change it. But I’ve made my place in it”(119-20). Put it differently, Bledsoe’s submission to the corrupted political authority which abide by the laws of institutionalised discrimination is the unique strategem to uphold his personal benefits. When the protagonist decries his misconduct, Bledsoe does not hesitate to dismiss him so as to stifle any change of the situation:
‘Tell anyone you like,’ he said. ‘I don’t care. I wouldn’t ra ise a little finger to stop you. Because I don’t owe anyone a thing, son. Who, Negros? Negros don’t control this school or much of anything elsehaven’t you learned even that? No, sir, the y don’t control this school, nor the white folk either. True they support it, but I control it. I’m still the king down here. I don’t care how much it appears otherwise. 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. Let the Negroes snicker and the crackers laugh . . . . This is a power set-up, son and I’m at the controls. You think about it. When you buck against me, you’re bucking against power, rich white folk’s power, and the nation’s power -which means government power. (119) Bledsoe exemplifies not only hypocrisy, but lack of moral virtue as well. His humility and desire to compliment the white trustees is but a facade to disguise his dishonesty. For instance, after the escapade with Norton around the vicinity, Blesoe asks the protagonist why he did not lie to the trustee to avoid meeting Trueblood. For him, duplicity becomes the precondition of adjusting to the system and the necessity to achievement in a deceptive world. The American dream of racial uplift as propounded by the founder is just a “game”, and the winner in this game is the one who knows how to operate and play skilfully. After this incidence, the protagonist becomes aware of the illusions of the teachings of Washington which subjected him to insults and indignities. Though the disciple of Booker Washington is supposed to provide the suitable circumstances and to encourage his black people to achieve respectable educational standards, he becomes a barrier towards the protagonist aspirations by expelling him so -3-
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as not to attain a successful future. The irony in the novel is that the Tuskegee College was meant to emerge the blacks from their miserable conditions by equipping them with the necessary means to prove their aptitudes and capabilities. However, Bledsoe’s sole aim is to please his white benefactors so as to assure their financial support on the one hand, and to secure his political leadership on the other. To add the salt to the wound, the dean betrays the protagonist another time by giving him what seems to be letters of recommendations to help him find a work. Superficially, the letters seem to be trustworthy and addressed to people with social reputation and “impressive names,” but in New York, Emerson reveals to him that he was frauded. He tells him that the aim of the letters is to warn prospective employers against him so as to hinder him from receiving any respectable career. The inconvenience of Washington’s policy is also manifested in the episode of the Battle Royal. Since it was his valediction, the protagonist was eager to impress the white Trustees by reciting Whashington’s famous Atlanta Coton Exposition speech. Initially, he believed that his oratorical skills will bring him dignity and will open the gate for his socio-economic take-off. To his disillusionment, the reward was a mouth full of blood and insulting humiliations as he and the other black boys were forced to look at a naked white woman, and blindfoldedly fight each other on an electrified carpet for fake coins as if they were animals in an amusment park or a circus. In short, the protagonist’s experience with Bledsoe and in Battle Royal illustrates that the perspective of Washington to approach the plight of the black Americans is not adequate for many reasons: first, instead of changing the situation, it maintains the white supremacy and keep the blacks at the lower depths of social hierarchy. Second, instead of being recognised by their skills and their gifted talents, the blacks turn to be a source of enterainment for the inebriated white community to enjoy their sparetime and to fulfill their repressed fantasies. In his famous book The Souls of Black Folk , Du Bois argues that Washington's strategy, rather than freeing the black man from oppression, would serve only to perpetuate their exploitation and marginalisation. In the novel, the picture of Frederick Douglass in the office alludes to the importance of his heroic views against the shackles of bondage and racial discrimination as opposed to those of Washington. In the second place, the Invisible man’s painful experience with the Brotherhood represents the failure of the communist dogma. Inspired by his eloquence during the eviction of a West Indian family, Jack – the head of the Brotherhood- offers the -4-
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protagonist a notable position in the brotherhood organisation. At first, the protagonist expects that his belonging to the organisation will give a new meaning and a different perception towards his life: “the organisation had given the world a new shape, and me a vital role. We recognized no loose ends; everything could be controlled by our science” (373). To his disillusion, he discovers that the Brotherhood is not concerned with social injustices, but with holding the masses under its control. He finds out that he is but a valuable source of their propaganda beneath the veneer of egalitarianism. Indeed, Jack tells him that within this communist organisation, the interests of the individual do not account and his views are of useless value. Therefore, he has to appropriate his individualistic interests to those of the Brotherhood organisation. Yet, like Bledsoe’s obssession with material success, the members of the Brotherhood are obssessed with their selfish individualistic ends. That is, they successfully managed to indoctrinate him through manipulation and used him to serve their political goals. By way of illustration, though his artistic oration skills have a powerful impact on the audience, yet the Brotherhood’s members insist that the invisible man should accommodate his views to be in total conformity with the rigidity of “the scientific method”, under the training of the white theoretician Brother Hambro. Moreover, he discovers that the white Communists of the Brotherhood are full of racist attitudes. For instance, while recognising his skin color, a drunken member of the Brotherhood requests that the hero should sing a spiritual. In addition, Brother Jack's mistress Emma whispers her regret that the hero was not darker in complexion. Being envious of his success, the Brotherhood committee decides to remove the narrator from a leadership role in Harlem and ordered him to lecture downtown on Woman Question. To his surprise, he discovers after the lecture that the white woman representing the Brotherhood is more interested in his sexuality as a black man than in the Woman Question. To his disappointment, the narrator becomes outraged and confused about the Brotherhood leaders decision not to use the anger of the people to gain strength for the movement. He also becomes shocked when the Brotherhood's theoretician Hambro reveals that Harlem “is no longer a priority”(298) to the movement. Upon organising a funeral to Brother Tod Clifton who was killed by a white policeman, the narrator was accused of betraying the principles of the Brotherhood organisation. After these bitter incidences, the invisible man finally discovers that the Brotherhood’s ideology is not reliable and that he was used as a “production tool” to -5-
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advance the Brotherhood like his friend Tod Clifton.What is worse is that Clifton’s death becomes like an entertainment for the brotherhood: “their entertainment had been his death” (359), in the same way the protagonist was used to entertain the tipsy whit es of the Battle Royal. In the third place , Ras the Exhorter or the Destroyer represents the ideological paradigm of Black Nationalism. The roots of Black Nationalism can be traced back to two eminent Afro-American figures: Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) and Martin Delany (1812-1885). The former advocates a mass exodus return to Africa as the original motherhood for blacks, the recovery of its lost glorious past and the revival of the prestigious heritage of African civilisation. In 1914, Garvey established the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Jamaica as one of the most significant black movement to be the vanguard for establishing a nationalist autonomous fatherland for the blacks in Africa. The latter on the other hand, is a leading spokesman for black independence, self-determination and the Negro’s racial purity. Indeed, the establishment of a national homeland for the Blacks in Africa or in Central America is the core of his political stance. In short, both of them advocate radical views of black solidarity, black ethno-historical specificity and racialism. In fact, Ras the Exhorter’s philosophy is grounded in this cultural nationalism. For him, the absolute break between the whites and the blacks is due to what Paul Gilroy calls “cultural insiderism”2 The essential trademark of cultural insiderism is an absolute sense of ethnic difference. As a case in point, Ras the Exhorter reminds Clifton of this racist principle during their fight: Don’t be stupid, mahn. They white, they don’t ha ve to be allies with no black people. They get what they wahnt, they turn against you. Where’s your black intelligence? . . . . I ahm no black educated fool who t’inks everything between black mahn and white mahn can be settled with some blahsted lies in some bloody books written by the white mahn in the first place. (302) For Ras, the color line determines not only cultural differences, but geographical boundaries as well: “This is Harlem. This is my territory, the black mahn’s territory.” (302) In addition, the revolutionary rhythm of his eloquence reinforces the struggle towards racial homogeneity and ethnic particularism, thus rejecting any kind of
2
Paul Gilroy. The Black Atlantic: Double-consciousness and Modernity , (England: Verso, 1993) p. 23.
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integration or assimilation into the white community: ‘You my brother, mahn. Brothers are the same colour; how the hell you call these white men brother? Shit, mahn. That’s shit! Brothers the same colour” (302). In fact, his moving sermon reveals a preoccupation with Black Nationalism with the aim of inspiring his disciples to be seriously commited to the pursuit of race goals: the socio-political autonomy and the recovery of African parental history. To convince Clifton and the invisible man to join his movement, Ras for instance invokes the traumatic horrors of slavery: “Leave that shit, mahn. They sell you out. That shit is oldfashioned. They enslave us-You forget that? How can they mean a black mahn any good? How are they going to be your brother?”(299) Moreover, he reminds them of the historical scars of economic exploitation and political oppr ession: “It’s three hundred years of black blood to build this white mahn’s civilization and wahn’t be wiped out in a minute. Blood calls for blood! You remember that.” (303) The tune of Ras’ political sermons clearly stresses both the recovery of African ancestery: “We sons of Mama Africa, You done forgot? You black, black!” (304) It also confirms a denunciation of all kinds of thinking systems or knowledge structures which take assume that Africanity is an indication of inferiority: “You got bahd hair ! You got thick lips! They say you stink ! They hate you, mahn.You African. African.” (303) Furthermore, the portrayal of Ras during the riot in Harlem reinforces his essence of Africentricity. Etymologically, 'Ras' as a name, refers to an Ethiopian prince in his determination and bravery. When the riot broke out, he was riding a black horse, wearing an old lion skin on his shoulders, and taking a shield and a spear. Describing him in such caricature manner, Ras becomes a source of mockery and absurdity for the white heavy drinkers: “this is some night,” one of them said. “Ain’t this some night?” “It’s about like the rest.” “Why you say that?” “Cause it’s fulla fucking and frighting and grinking and lying -gimme that bottle.” “You know that stud Ras the Destroyer?Well, man, he was spitting blood.” “That crazy guy?” “Hell, yes, man, he had him a big black hoss and a fur cap and some king of old lion skin or something over his shoulders and he was raising hell.Goddam if he wasn’t a sight, riding up and down on th is ole hoss, you know, one of the kind that pulls vegetable wagons, and he got him a cowboy saddle and some big spurs.”(362)
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Ras’ racial discourse is founded on separation between races to the extent that any co-operation between them is a kind of betrayal to his race: “[Ras] is not afraid to be black. Nor is he a traitor to the black people for the white people. Nor is he a traitor for white men. Remember that: I am no black traitor to the black people for the white Page | - 8 -
people.’(303) As a charismatic black leader, Rus the Exhorter makes use of all the collective events that constitute "race" consciousness and therefore participates in African agency, black self-determination, and self-actualization. He also expresses himself a “new Negro,” proud of being black. With such slogans as “don’t play you’self cheap, mahn. Don’t deny you’self”, “You young and intelligent”, and “You black and beautiful -don’t let’em tell you different”(301), he seeks to inculcate a sense of pride among blacks so as to organise themselves together in the struggle for their freedom and against racial domination. Conversely, the invisible man is against the idea of race as an organizing theme in human relations. He reacts to Ras’s perspective by asserting that “‘thinking like that will get you lost in the backwash of history” (302). This attitude provides meaningful insights and implications. First, it aims to transcend the limitations of the colour line and to renounce race-thinking essentialism. Second, magnifying the differences between people will generate antagonism and clashes between them instead of coexistence and cooperation. Third, focusing on the discourse of tradition or Africentricity is not feasible because of the historical ruptures and discontinuities throughout the period of history. Instead, African-Americans become aware of their duality of existence or what W. E. B. Du Bois calls a sense of “double-consciousness”. It refers to the historical patterns of contradictions between the ideals of white America and the harsh reality of black America. For Du Bois, One ever feels his twoness — an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. . . . He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and
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spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face. 3 Put it differently, the blacks in America are conscious of what Richard Wright names “double vision” or “split subjectivity”. To conclude, the protagonist has passed through painful experiences towards his self-fulfilment. During his odyssey, he discovers that all those social institutions betray him, and all ideologies from Booker L.Washington’s philosophy, via the Communist Brotherhood, to the Black nationalism of Rus the Exhorter are but guises to mask individualistic interests and moral corruption. Moreover Since “the truth was only a lie” (405), he opts for withdrawal. His retreat to the underground hole indicates his conviction to trust his own senses because the world falls into chaos. Put it differently, his alternative for the collapse of ideologies is the freedom of every human being to decide his own destiny and to search for his suitable mode of being far away from the strictures of social institutions which sacrifice the personal value so as to meet the fraudulent needs of society. From this angle, Invisible Man as a novel can be read as a critical evaluation of black historical leadership as well as a sociological study about the unresolved dilemmas of blacks in the American society or what Ellison himself calls “[the] problem of nationhood”. It is true that many critics cover different aspects of the novel such as music, vernacular literature and its narrative structure.Yet, the quest for an identity over historical moments remains one of the major concerns of the novel as Ralph Ellison confirms that “all [his] work is grounded in a concern with the hidden aspects of American history as they come to focus in our racial predicament.” 4 On his comment on Invisible Man's artistic and literary accomplishments, Eric Sundquist writes that “No book . . . sums up the psychological and cultural effects of segregation in the United States more thoroughly than Ellison’s.”5
3
W . E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, in Du Boi s: Writings (New York: Library of America, 1986) p. 57. 4 B ernard W. Bell, the Afro-American Novel and Its Tradition , (Massachusetts: Massachusetts UP, 1987) p.12. 5
E ric J. Sundquist, ed. Cultural Contexts for Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man.” (Boston: St. Martin’s Press, 1995) p. 2.
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34- Robert O’meally, New Essays on Invisible Man, (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988) p.7. Page | - 10 -
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Busby, Mark. Ralph Ellison. Boston: Twayne, 1991. Callahan, John F. Introduction: Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man”: A Casebook . New York: Oxford UP, 2004. Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage, 1989. Ellison, Ralph, and Albert Murray. Trading Twelves: The Selected letters of Ralph. New York: Vintage, 2001. Foley, Barbara. “Ralph Ellison as Proletarian Journalist.” Science and Society 62 (1997): 24 pars. Aug. 1, 2007 . Graham, Maryemma, and Jeffrey Dwayne Mack. “Ralph Ellison, 1913 – 1994: A Brief Biography.” A Historical Guide to Ralph Ellison. Ed. Stephen C. Tracy. New York: Oxford UP, 2004. 19 – 55. Jackson, Lawrence. Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius. New York: Wiley, 2002. Murray, Albert. South to a Very Old Place. 1971. New York: Vintage, 1991. O’Meally, Robert G. The Craft of Ralph Ellison. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1980. Posnock, Ross, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Ralph Ellison . Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005. Rampersad, Arnold. Ralph Ellison: A Biography. New York: Knopf, 2007. Sundquist, Eric J., ed. Cultural Contexts for Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man.” Boston: St. Martin’s Press, 1995. West, Hollie. “Growing Up Black in Frontier Oklahoma . . . From an Ellison Perspective.” 1973. Speaking for You: The vision of Ralph Ellison . Ed. Kim- berly W. Benston. Washington, DC: Howard UP, 1987. 11 – 14. Wright, John S. Shadowing Ralph Ellison. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 2006.
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Jackson, Lawrence. “Ralph Ellson’s Invented Lfe: A Meetng wth the Ancestors.” The Cambridge Companion to Ralph Ellison. Ed. Ross Posnock. Cambrdge: Cambr dge UP, 2005. 11 – 34. Kennedy, Adr enne. Funnyhouse of a Negro. 1964. Adrienne Kennedy in One Act. M nneapol s: U of M nnesota P, 1988. 1 – 23. PREFACE x K rn, Walter. Book Jacket. The Intuitionist. By Colson Wh tehead. New York: Anchor-Random, 2000. Parr, Susan Resneck, and Pancho Savery, eds. Approaches to Teaching Ellison’s “Invisible Man.” New York: MLA, 1989 Time. Book Jacket. Philadelphia Fire. 1990. By John Edgar W deman. New York: V ntage-Random, 1991.
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