We begin our Post-Modernism week with three extremely important writers, Robert Hayden, John Berryman, and Ralph Ellison. I found the short Bio's on these writers interesting because they seemed to have alot in common.
Here is a quick reminder:
Robert Hayden:
Born: 1913
Died: 1980
Adopted when he was 18 months old.
Poor background/ Traumatic childhood
Studied Music
Read modern poetry (Hughs, Cullen)
Grew up in Detroit
John Berryman:
Born:1914
Died: 1972
Father commit suicide, mother remarried.
Traumatic childhood
Studied Poetry
Taught at Wayne State in Detroit
Multiple Marriages
Ralph Ellison:
Born: 1913
Died: 1994
Father died when he was three
Also read modern poetry (Langston Hughs, Cullen)
Awarded Music Scholarship, but switched to poetry
Multiple marriages
Out of the readings this week, I was most confused by The Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison.
I was trying to read the story with my irony goggles on. Searching for some hope that the plot in this story was just a sick joke and not in fact actually taking place.
I think one of the most important parts of the entire story is the opening scene in which the grandfather is on his deathbed. The grandfather, who the boy takes after, is a trickster figure. He even tricks his own family. After Reconstruction when the South was a terrible place for African Americans to live, the grandfather did what he had to do to survive. He was polite and made sure not to cause any trouble. But this was a lie and he even calls himself a "traitor." And the most important thing is to keep up this tradition of undermining the white folks. This idea is what haunts the protagonist his whole life.
Throughout the story, words and ideas of Booker T. Washington are echoed, and this is another important theme. The second paragraph brings up the idea of "separate like the fingers of a hand." And the bot even calls himself a "neo-Booker T. Washington." But he mentions that it was in his "pre-invisible days." This is what leads me to think that invisibility equates to trickery.
Fast forward to where he is in the fighting ring and he finally figures out that his blind fold slipped and he could see. He is using a trickster move to dodge the other boys and have others take the blows that were aimed at him.
When he is trying to figure out whether or not to win against the "big boy," and he is conflicted about his moment of humility, he catches a blow to the head and is knocked out. This moment is pivotal because he starts to realize his grandfathers words very much a part of him.
The last four pages give me a stomach ache when I read them. I have a hard time interpreting what the protagonist is actually thinking.
I'm waiting until after class to finish this post. I will have to follow up.
TBC.
This is a great observation ---> "The grandfather, who the boy takes after, is a trickster figure. He even tricks his own family."
ReplyDeleteThe grandfather is the ultimate trickster figure throughout the novel. He is some ways teaches the narrator how to work the middles, how to be unseen, how to, in his words, "yes 'em to death."
You also do a nice job of reading the fight scene through the lens of the trickster. While he is blindfolded (though he can see), he is able to survive and win. But when he is faced with a straight-up fight, he loses. This idea is carried through the novel.