Black and Invisible Is it possible for a man to be invisible? Did African Americans suffer racial torment even after the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment? In the novel The Invisible Man, the narrator guides readers through how it feels[2] not to be seen by the world around them[3] and the racial experiences he faced as a black man in the 1940s and 1940s. 50. In Ralph Ellison's "Prologue" and "Battle Royal" excerpts from The Invisible Man Ellison[4] helps create a clear understanding of how he has experienced racism and racial cruelty, how he is figuratively invisible, and how being invisible influenced him. to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In the chapter "Battle Royale" the narrator experiences racial cruelty and builds a vivid image through words of his experiences to help readers understand exactly what he is looking for he was going through[5] . Before the battle at the Battle Royal the narrator is blindfolded. While waiting he hears white men yelling racial slurs and threats involving him and the other black man around him, such as "I want to get to that ginger nigga [and] tear him to pieces" and "leave me to them motherfucker niggas whore" (Ellison 17). The narrator faces this cruelty again after the fight, when he and the other men reward money and riches on an electric carpet. Before he is given the signal to take the money, he hears a white man make another racist comment, hearing "these niggas look like they're about to pray"; then, after receiving the okay, the narrator jumps for the first gold coins he sees and suddenly "A hot, violent force tore through his body, [making him] tremble like a wet mouse, [to his surprise] the carpet was electrified” (Ellison 21). The white men sternly insisted that they should take the money while yelling “pick it up, damn it, pick it up” before trying to force it and push it onto the carpet (Ellison 21). White men continued to behave this way for a long time before they decided to stop. Eventually, many years later, the narrator falls victim to becoming figuratively invisible and explains to readers how it is in the "Prologue" generating an understandable concept. He describes to readers that he is not physically invisible, but people refuse to acknowledge his existence by "only [seeing] his surroundings, themselves or a figment of their imagination" (Ellison 3). The narrator talks about how it can be an advantage to want to "passively fight against [the sleepwalkers] (men) without them realizing it" and how "for some time he has been carrying on a fight with Monopolated Light & Power, using their services and they pay them nothing, and know it not” (Ellison 4-5). He also explains how being invisible also has its disadvantages due to the way it "[is] often quite wearing" and how it makes a man "often [wonder] and doubt whether [they] really exist" (Ellison 3- 4). The narrator explains that since he became invisible he feels alive and believes that otherwise life would be death. As the final point of the "Prologue" the narrator goes through a situation where his invisibility actually causes him to snap and almost kill a man. He explains how he "began to push people away" due to the resentment produced by doubting one's existence that comes from being invisible; then, causing an altercation one night when he accidentally runs into a white man (Ellison 3-4). The white man called him an offensive name and swore at him when he asked for an apology. The words finally reach the narrator and he begins to beat him senseless.