1. I chose the novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison as my second AP source. The story is about an African American man and his adversities that lead him to where and who he is now. The story takes place in the 1920's in the south. Gifted with writing and public speaking the main character gets the chance to give a speech early in his youth and goes on to win a scholarship for college. While at college he is placed in charge of driving Mr. Norton, a wealthy white trustee at the college. One day Mr. Norton happens to overhear word on Jim Trueblood, an uneducated African American man who impregnated his own daughter. After hearing this news Mr. Norton retreats to the Golden day were we finds relief in a drink. Word of this incident spreads to the colleges president who in turn expels the narrator. The narrator moves to Harlem where he gets a job. Things are looking up for the narrator, until he gets hurt on the job and looses consciousness. Fortunately he recovers and soon after joins a group called the Brotherhood, headed by Brother Jack.Again things take a turn for the worse and the brotherhood begins to question the narrators motives in being part of the organization. In fear the narrator disguises himself and hides from the brotherhood. Finally the narrator returns home to a riot and falls into a hole in the street. In an attempt to kill the narrator the police surround the hole. The narrator explains that he was lived in that hole since that day. This last accident causes the narrator to look back on things and gives him the motivation to what he wants and tell his story of life. By telling his story the narrator finally finds the strength within himself to come out of the whole because he stayed true to himself.
2. The main theme of the novel is the courage to stay true to who you are. In the narrators case he was an African American man living in the south in the 1920's those were hard times and it was tempting for him to take the easy way out of things and accept the poor treatment towards blacks. But it was harder to speak out about the cruelty and make a change. It was a struggle he had to overcome in order to face himself and others.
3. Some people might view the narrator's tone as cross or dreary, because of his constant reflection on the racism at the time and his many struggles. But I see it more as honesty and thoughtfulness.
“What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?”
“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves or figments of their imagination, indeed, everything and anything except me.”
“The world is a possibility if only you'll discover it.”
4.Literary Devices:
-symbolism
-setting
-tone
-theme
-figurative language
-allusions
-diction
-imagery
-allegory
-point of view
“What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?”
“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves or figments of their imagination, indeed, everything and anything except me.”
“The world is a possibility if only you'll discover it.”
“Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.”
“I was never more hated than when I tried to be honest. Or when, even as just now I've tried to articulate exactly what I felt to be the truth. No one was satisfied”
“And my problem was that I always tried to go in everyone's way but my own.”
“Perhaps to lose a sense of where you are implies the danger of losing a sense of who you are.”
“I remember that I'm invisible and walk softly so as not awake the sleeping ones. Sometimes it is best not to awaken them; there are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.”
“Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination—indeed, everything and anything except me.”
“The truth is the light and the light is the truth.
“Please, a definition: A hibernation is a covert preparation for a more overt action.”
“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.”
“I'd like to hear five recordings of Louis Armstrong playing and singing "What Did I Do to Be so Black and Blue"-all at the same time. Sometimes now I listen to Louis while I have my favorite dessert of vanilla ice cream and sloe gin. I pour the red liquid over the white mound, watching it glisten and the vapor rising as Louis bends that military instrument into a beam of lyrical sound.”
“I felt that even when they were polite they hardly saw me, that they would have begged the pardon of Jack the Bear, never glancing his way if the bear happened to be walking along minding his business. It was confusing. I did not know if it was desirable or undesirable...”
Characterization
1. The narrator describes his thoughts and actions the entire story, therefore he is always using direct characterization.
2.I did not observe much change in the author's tone when discussing characters mainly because the author writes through the main character describing his thoughts and feelings, which are pretty constant
3. The main character is definitely dynamic because he struggles with being himself and being conformed by the racist outlook, he is also a round character because he has so many qualities.
4.After reading this novel I have come away feeling like a have met the man not read a story about him as a character.
No comments:
Post a Comment