A Meta Insight
This past Friday, we were given the prompt of explaining how the Narrator may have potentially gone from this concept of complete individualism, to the proposition that he may be speaking for us readers. From my perspective, both the reader and the narrator go through a progression of self-identity, hence why the narrator believes he has been speaking for us.
The anonymous identity of the narrator leaves room for the reader to put parts of their subconscious into his shoes. Do you agree with how the narrator reacted in a certain event? Does a certain scene invoke discomfort? Questions such as these generate ideas within the reader relating to self-exploration and identity. The reader is developing ideas about the narrator's progress regarding his journey towards visibility, all the while subconsciously developing their own.
Perhaps the discoveries arisen from these revelations have little to do with the actual plot. Nevertheless, the narrator is a representation of finding yourself and molding one's individualism. Therefore, once the narrator pops the idea that he's been speaking for us, the reader has no choice but to reevaluate their approach to the novel, and realize they have been approaching the narrator's story through their previously held world-view to influence the way they react to the novel.
Invisible Man gives readers the opportunity to self-reflect through the character of the narrator. Given that the narrator is a representation of anonymity, it is my belief that this was a way of both amplifying the theme of invisibility, and representing the anonymous identity of the readers of the novel.
Great post Zoya! I had never really thought about the anonymous aspect of the readers. I like how you talked about how our views of the book change when the narrator reveals that he is talking to us. Your post is making me think about how my world view may have blinded me to certain intricacies of the story and the dynamics between characters.
ReplyDeleteNice post Zoya! I think that when reading the book you get so caught up in the novel that you don't really get a chance to stop and think about how what the narrator goes through might be similar to you. I think that the narrator giving the reader time to self-reflect at the end of the novel is really interesting and oddly self aware, so I'm happy you brought this topic up. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteZoya, I really like how you brought up the idea that the narrator not including his name allows us to step into his shoes and see ourselves in him. I agree that it does allow us to self reflect through him in a way. I like how you included questions to further move your ideas along but also make us think about how we may have subconsciously seen ourselves in the narrator. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteI like how Ellison doesn't have his narrator state unequivocally that he HAS been "speaking for us" this whole time--he characteristically frames it as a rhetorical question, with an innocent little shrug of "who knows"? It's almost like a dare or a challenge: the reader may have comforted themselves with the thought that this guy's crazy experiences couldn't have anything to do with us, and at the very end, he turns the mirror around on us and asks, "Are you SURE your story has no relation to mine? Really?"
ReplyDeleteIt's a quite effective way of turning the tables on the reader, compelling them to rethink the preceding 580 pages.
This is a cool post, I like the idea of the anonymity of the narrator being a way for the reader to project themselves in his place. While I think most people do that when reading to an extent anyway, I think it really takes it to the next level, and his question for the reader at the end amplifies it, and takes us to a place of hyperawareness as we reflect on the narrators story as a whole.
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