Invisible Man-Prologue Thoughts

For starters, the very first line of the prologue is “I am an invisible man” (Ellison 3). Invisible has the denotation of treated as if unable to be seen and ignored or not taken into consideration. This is exactly how the narrator seems to feel. He is the product of an environment that doesn’t seem to accept him because of the people around him who refuse to. One of the scenes that truly got me interested in this book is when the narrarator decides not to murder the man who insulted him because of a realization that he is still invisible. It is hard to tell what the exact meaning of this scene is right now; however, I did notice some very contradictory aspects of it. For example, the violent brutality of the scene takes place “beneath the lamplight” during the night. Generally, the light shining on something in the space of darkness indicates some sort of holiness. We’ll have to read more through the text to figure out what makes this act so holy and justifiable considering that it is so brutal and horrific. It is also interesting to note that the nararrator is described as a “phantom”” (Ellison 5). One of the interesting denotations of this word is a financial arrangement or transaction that has been invented for fraudulent purposes but that does not really exist. I believe that this definition is very interesting in laying out the truth about our nararrator. Is he so invisible that he is nothing but a fake in the eyes of the society around him? The word transaction also reminds me of the sort of a sort of slave trade that might play relevance towards the identity of our main character. I also think it is very relevant to notice his living condition right now. For example, he claims, “I love rent free in a building rented strictly to whites, in a section of the building that was shut off and forgotten during the nineteenth century” (Ellison 6). I think it is so interesting that his own living conditions shows the superiority of white in that society considering that he is located in a “hole” below them. However, his hole is filled with over a thousand lights, which indicates the same holiness described earlier even though the light is taken unfairly from the Monopolated Light and Power Company. In addition, by trying to take as much light from the company as he can, the narrarator seems to be displaying a propensity to revolt against the social norms of his environment. I also thought that the quote paralleling the main character to a bear was quite interesting. For example, he claims, “ I am neither dead nor in a state of suspended animation. Call me Jack-the Bear for I am in a state of hibernation” (Ellison 6). It is kind of scary to think of this almost stagnated state of mind in which one rests up, but upon wakening enters the world filled with energy and ready to “make overt change”.