In chapter one of “Invisible Man,” through his use of imagery and metaphors, Ralph Ellison conveys the premise of how vulnerable and powerless the people of color are made by the whites while living in such an unequal and racist society. Ellison describes a battle royal scene in which a group of 10 young black boys was blindfolded, stripped, and put into a ring to fight each other for the entertainment of white men. In the book, it states, “Blindfolded, I could no longer control my motions. I had no dignity. I stumbled about like a baby or a drunken man” (page 22). In this quote, the narrator recalls feeling helpless and inferior after being blindfolded. As he recounts the details of the blindfold and the emotions that came along with it, the narrator introduces a major theme of the novel which is a person of color’s blindness to reality and justice. Earlier in the book, he referred to sleepwalkers as being dangerous to society, suggesting that he views blindness as a literal and figurative threat to the safety of his culture as well as his own. his safety and the safety of his culture.
The blindfolding of the boys in the ring represents their inability to acknowledge the men’s racist motives as they force them to confirm the racial stereotype that portrays black men as violent savages. In addition, this is also parallel to the men’s metaphorical blindness because as they watch the fight, they perceive the boys as animals and inferior beings, rather than humans. The narrator also says, “But the blindfold was tight as a thick skin-puckering scab and when I raised my gloved hands to push the layers of white aside a voice yelled, ‘Oh no you don’t black bastard! Leave that alone!’” (page 22). In this quote, it is explained that when the narrator tried to remove the white blindfold, he heard an individual shout at him to leave it on. In this quote, the narrator uses imagery to describe the blindfold, which then explains the reason why he wanted to remove it. Furthermore, the blindfold is a symbolic metaphor used by the narrator to convey the point of people of color being blinded by the white to the point where they are made inferior through things such as racial discrimination.
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A blindfold is used as an item that ensures vulnerability, as it deprives someone of the ability to see. When wearing a blindfold, one is forced into a submissive state as they are left vulnerable in the darkness, or forced to trust the guidance of those who aren’t blindfolded. Thus, the white men forced the boys into a state of vulnerability the boys by having them wear blindfolds, which symbolizes their powerlessness to recognize their exploitation at the hands of the white men.
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Metaphors in ‘Invisible Man’: Literary Criticism Essay.
(2023, September 15). Edubirdie. Retrieved December 19, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/metaphors-in-invisible-man-literary-criticism-essay/
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