Independent Reading Project Post

Invisible Man/Ralph Ellison/African American literature

The novel Invisible Man, tells the story of a black man trying to find himself. The story is set in the 1930's in the South and Harlem in New York. In the beginning, the narrator (also known as Invisible Man), struggles to find who he truly is. He attends college, but after an incident with a prestigious white man he is forced to move to New York. He is expected to find work and hopefully return back to school the next fall. The story describes his new life and the obstacles that occur as the invisible man is on his path to discovering who he is and what he stands for. After a life of feeling invisible and inferior to whites, Invisible Man's journey helps him find himself.

In the beginning, the book was slow moving. It seemed as though it would take forever to read. After concentrating hard and focusing on reading, it became easier to read. Although the plot development was slow, towards the middle of the book I really started getting into it and enjoying it. It was confusing at first, but by focusing on what I was reading things became more clear and entertaining. Although I found it enjoyable, I would not recommend this book to people who do not enjoy reading. The book is lengthy and it takes a while to get interested in it. I recommend this book to people who are patient and have time to give the book a chance. I also recommend this book for people who like figuring out the symbolism in books. This book is very symbolic and there are many metaphors to the narrator's life. If you do not like making inferences about books and reading deeper into the text to find the meaning, then I do not recommend Invisible Man for you.


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Blog Post #3

3.) After reading and hearing the interview and article I was shocked at this extreme display of racism. Although racism still exists, I did not think that it would escalate to that level in this time period. It made me sick to hear that these six boys were punished and convicted for murder becasue of a stupid fight. I was shocked to find out that the school did not expel the white kids for hanging nooses from the tree. I also could not believe that the DA ignored the extreme racism behind the "innocent prank" the white kids pulled. It was sick that he told the black kids to stop making a big deal about it, when it clearly is an issue. I think that this level of racism is isolated to the South more because of the rural south and Jim Crow laws that were set up to segregate the whites and the blacks. I believe that mentality is still there in the South, and this incident happened in Louisiana. Also, the one woman on the interview explained how her neighborhood is only blacks. Where we live, it is not common to find only black neighborhoods and teh whties be separate from the blacks. Although racism still occurs today, I do believe that in specific areas it is more extreme.

4.) After the six kids from Jena were arrested for assault, the trials for each kid were held. All of the boys besides one, were minors. The total amount for all siz of the bails was over 500,000 dollars. Not too long after the kids were arrested, the DA announced that teh charges were raised to attempted second degree murder and conspiracy to second degree murder. Three of the kids made bail, and were released from jail in May 2007. Then, it was determined, that one kid who was 16, would be tried as an adult. As of September of 2007, there is only one kid left in jail, and will stay there until his next hearing. The jury for the trials was an all white jury. It seems that this case has put a spotlight on Jena and is nationally recognized for the Jena 6. I think that today, racism is still an issue, and probably more severe than in other places. I also think that less black people are allowing it, and are standing up for their rights and protesting.