Advanced Placement Literature and Composition

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Advanced Placement Literature and Composition
Summer Reading Assignment
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Ralph Ellison 1914-1994
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About the author

• Born in Oklahoma City on March 1, 1914 to Lewis
  Alfred Ellison and Ida Millsap Ellison.
• All four grandparents were slaves.
• Ellisons father named him after Ralph Waldo
  Emerson in hopes that he would someday become a
  poet.
• In 1933 Ellison was awarded a scholarship to
  Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

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About the novel

• First Published in 1952
• Narrated in the first person by the protagonist,
  an unnamed African American man who considers
  himself socially invisible
• The story is told from the narrator's present,
  looking back into his past giving the narrator
  hindsight in how the story is told. Because it
  is a narration, the narrators thoughts and
  feelings are exposed.

I am an invisible manI am a man of substance, of
flesh and bone, fiber and liquids- and I might
even be said to possess a mind.
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Continued

• The Invisible Man begins with the narrator
  recalling his grandfathers last words. His
  grandfather felt he had betrayed his people,
  African Americans, and his words serve to
  motivate the narrator in his actions throughout
  the story, even if he doesnt fully comprehend
  his grandfathers meaning in them.
• The story starts after the narrator graduates
  from high school. He is asked to give a speech
  for a group of important white men, where he is
  degraded by them.

I am invisible, understand, simply because
people refuse to see me.
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Setting The American South and Harlem, New York
in the late 1930s
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Stylistic Elements

• Ellisons style echoes that of other
  African-American writers, particularly those
  involved in the Harlem Renaissance. His writing
  teems with sound devicesparticularly
  alliterationand utilizes anaphora to highlight
  some of his most poignant points.

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Central Question

• How can one person make a difference when all
  of the avenues to power are occupied by the
  duplicitous?
• No matter where the narrator tries to pursue
  success and autonomy in an authentic manner, he
  finds the road ahead of him blocked by those who
  have decided to ignore those below. His initial
  solution, to hide in a basement and steal power
  from the electric company, fails to solve the
  problem, so he ultimately decides to come forth
  and pursue change.

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Ideas to consider

• This novel is written as a satire of the myth of
  American success. Not much was expected of
  African Americans at the time, and this idea,
  juxtaposed with the expectations of white
  Americans, makes for a novel rich in satirical
  devices.
• The Invisible Man is written as an episodic
  story, hence the associations between scenes are
  far less logical. The story continues in this
  direction until the end, thus defining it as a
  picaresque novel.
• This novel lacks closure so be sure to read the
  epilogue!!!

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Summer Reading Assignment
Annotate!

• You will be expected to make annotations as you
  read the novel.
• A grade will be given for the level of effort
  that you put forth in your annotations.

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You should annotate for

• Themes Racism as an obstacle to individual
  identity, limitations of ideology, danger of
  fighting stereotype with stereotype, blindness,
  invisibility, Jazz and blues music, masks,
  puppets and marionettes
• Symbols the Sambo doll, the coin bank, the
  liberty paints plant, the brotherhood, colors

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Additional Reading

• Choose one supplemental piece from the College
  Board AP Recommended Reading List (handout)