Literary Analysis of Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man follows the life of a young black man in the twentieth century. The narrator forms a close friendship with a member of his civil rights organization. His friend, Tod Clifton, is provoked by a police officer and shot. This leads the narrator to fight to make sure that what happened to Clifton would not happen to anyone else.
The narrator spends every waking moment dedicated to the Brotherhood. Tod Clifton was as equally devoted as the narrator. The two formed a close bond through their dedication, and when Clifton was unjustly gunned down, it sparks a fire in the narrator. From the description of the incident in the book, the shooting wasn’t that uncommon. White cops were picking on blacks and harshly punishing them if they even slightly resisted. The narrator sees all of this and becomes determined to fix society.
Before Clifton was shot, the narrator had begun to doubt himself and the Brotherhood’s cause. He was lowly becoming disillusioned with society in general. Clifton’s death changed that. The narrator jumped right back into his work with a new fervor. The way that Clifton died was tragic, but it made the injustice and discrimination faced by blacks into a personal grudge. Before it had been about the inequality in society, but now it was about the unfairness of Clifton’s death, the death of his friend. In order to prevent such a tragedy from happening again the narrator organizes a massive community funeral for Clifton. Instead of mourning Clifton at the funeral, the narrator uses the opportunity to rail against the injustice done to Clifton and to blame society. The narrator himself feels despicable for using Clifton like this, but he still goes through with it. He puts his cause of civil rights before his personal feelings. This farce of a funeral shows how Clifton’s death made the issues he was fighting for had become personal, and that he was willing to sacrifice much for his cause to be realized.
It can be seen due to the funeral how much the narrator is devoted to the civil rights movement. He turned his friend into a fake martyr in order to accomplish his goal. The way that he reacted to Clifton’s death proves a point. People care about societal issues, but when those issues impact a person’s personal life, they are much more likely to labor harder for reform.
The narrator spends every waking moment dedicated to the Brotherhood. Tod Clifton was as equally devoted as the narrator. The two formed a close bond through their dedication, and when Clifton was unjustly gunned down, it sparks a fire in the narrator. From the description of the incident in the book, the shooting wasn’t that uncommon. White cops were picking on blacks and harshly punishing them if they even slightly resisted. The narrator sees all of this and becomes determined to fix society.
Before Clifton was shot, the narrator had begun to doubt himself and the Brotherhood’s cause. He was lowly becoming disillusioned with society in general. Clifton’s death changed that. The narrator jumped right back into his work with a new fervor. The way that Clifton died was tragic, but it made the injustice and discrimination faced by blacks into a personal grudge. Before it had been about the inequality in society, but now it was about the unfairness of Clifton’s death, the death of his friend. In order to prevent such a tragedy from happening again the narrator organizes a massive community funeral for Clifton. Instead of mourning Clifton at the funeral, the narrator uses the opportunity to rail against the injustice done to Clifton and to blame society. The narrator himself feels despicable for using Clifton like this, but he still goes through with it. He puts his cause of civil rights before his personal feelings. This farce of a funeral shows how Clifton’s death made the issues he was fighting for had become personal, and that he was willing to sacrifice much for his cause to be realized.
It can be seen due to the funeral how much the narrator is devoted to the civil rights movement. He turned his friend into a fake martyr in order to accomplish his goal. The way that he reacted to Clifton’s death proves a point. People care about societal issues, but when those issues impact a person’s personal life, they are much more likely to labor harder for reform.