Lesson Seven

1. Lesson Seven Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

2. About the author: • Ralph (Waldo) Ellison (1914-1994) • African-American writer, teacher, who, has been compared to such writers as Melville and Hawthorne.

3. Ralph Ellison • Best known for his novel Invisible Man which won the National Book Award (1953) • Shadow and Act (1964) • a collection of political, social and critical essays

4. Ralph Ellison • Writing style: • Ellison has used racial issues to express universal dilemmas of identity and self-discovery but avoided taking a traightforward political stand. • "Literature is colorblind," he once said.

5. Ralph Ellison • Criticism: • Many artists of the Black Arts movement rejected Ellison for his insistence that America be a land of cultural exchange and synergy.

6. Booker T. Washington (1856- 1915) • an American educator, orator, author and the dominant leader of the African-American community nationwide

7. Booker T. Washington • Washington was born in1856, on a plantation in Virginia, the son of a slave. Following the Civil War, his family moved to West Virginia, where he worked in coal mines, attending school whenever he could. From 1872 to 1875 he attended a newly founded school for blacks, Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute.

8. Booker T. Washington • After graduation be taught for two years and then studied at Wayland Seminary, in Washington D. C. In 1879 he became an instructor at Hampton Institute, where he helped to organize a night school. The school was so successful that in 1881 the founder of Hampton Institute appointed Washington organizer and principal of a black normal school in Tuskegee,Alabama (now Tuskegee University).

9. Washington’s address • On September 18, 1895, in Atlanta, Georgia, Washington delivered a well-known address, which became one of the most important influential speeches in American history, establishing Washington as one of the leading black spokesmen in the United States.

10. Famous speech • “To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land or who underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations with the Southern white man, who is their next-door neighbour, I would say: "Cast down your bucket where you are"-- cast it down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by whom we aresurrounded.

11. Reconstruction • In 1857, Congress enacted the Reconstruction Act, and the Southern states were readmitted to the Union. The Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed the Negro's right to vote. The new governments in the South, led by radical whites and freedmen, attempted to deal constructively with the problems let by the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. They began to rebuild the Southern economy and society.

12. Reconstruction • Agricultural production was restored, roads rebuilt, a more equitable tax system adopted and schooling extended to Negroes and poor whites. Tile freedmen's civil and political rights were guaranteed, and Negroes were able to participate in the political and economic life of the South as full citizens for the first time.

13. Reconstruction • However, most Southern whites objected strongly to the Negro's new role in society. Organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan arose. Their acts of violence kept Negroes and white republicans from voting, and gradually the radical Republican governments were overthrown. Reconstruction collapsed. White rule was restored, the Negro was once again deprived of many civil and political rights, and his economic position remained depressed. Apparently, the grandfather was one of the freed slaves actively involved in the Reconstruction.

14. Pre-class questions: • 1 How do you understand the title of the lesson? • 2 Which rhetorical speech is repeatedly used in this lesson to achieve the fixed effects? • 3 How many sections can you divide the lesson into? • 4 Tell the students what difficulties they will face in understanding the lesson. • 5 What is the narrative structure of this story? • 6 Why does the author use the first-person narration?

15. Detailed discussion of the text • Title: The Battle Royal • A fight involving several or many contestants; a disorganized violent fight

16. Para. 1 • 1. What is the function of Paragraph? • (1) By saying "It goes a long way back, some twenty years," the author tells us that the story took place in the past.

17. (2) The “I” here is the narrator, not the author, of the story, and the author is using the first-person narration in telling the story.

18. (3) "I was looking for myself" "I am nobody but myself" point out the central theme of the novel--searching for self-identity.

19. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging.., but myself. • (1) It took me a long time to get rid of illusions and realize the simple and apparent truth that 1 am nobody but myself. It was a painful process. I started with high expectations only to be deeply disappointed and thoroughly disillusioned. • (2) boomeranging A boomerang is a curved stick from Australia that flies in a circle and comes back to you when you throw it. Metaphor , implying that the narrator moved in a circle and came back to where he had started.

20. But first I had to discover that I am an invisible man • (1) Invisible Man is the title of the novel and invisibility is one of the central motifs of this work. • (2) The word "invisible" is used figuratively, meaning not being recognized by society. • (3) To discover that I am an invisible man is the first step towards realizing who I am The battle royal scene establishes invisibility as a major symbol of the novel.

21. Para. 2 What is Paragraph 2 about? • This paragraph tells us a bit about the historical background against which the story took place. It also introduces a new character--the narrator's grandfather. On his deathbed, he said something that alarmed and puzzled the whole family.

22. And yet I am no freak of nature, nor of history. • (1) freak: an abnormal person • (2) By "no freak of nature" the narrator means that he is perfectly normal physically. He indicates that, physically, he is a homo sapiens rather than a mutant species as racist scientists have called Africans. • "Nor of history" means he is a natural product of history, his growth reflects history, "nor of history" moves beyond mere physical concerns to include political, psychological and philosophical considerations, he suggests that his indictment is also not freakish but quite comprehensible considering the suffering and injustice African Americans have experienced.

23. (3) This sentence is closely connected with the above sentence that "I am an invisible man". The implied meaning is that I am invisible or people can't see me, but this is not saying I am abnormal.

24. I was in the cards, other things having been equal (or unequal) eighty-five years ago. • (1) be in the cards (American English), be on the cards (British English): to seem likely to happen, • e.g. Another resignation could be on (in) the cards. • (2) When things seemed likely to happen to me, or when I was fated to be the man as described in the novel, other things had been equal (or unequal) eighty-five years ago.

25. Background information about 85 years ago----- • As the novel Invisible Man was published in 1952, eighty-five years ago refer to the end of the Civil War, specifically the beginning of the reconstruction period in which so much hope for the fulfillment of democracy's promises were perverted, violated, denied . The Civil War was pursued at first to preserve the Union, but turned into a crusade for the total abolition of slavery. Before the end of 1865 all but two states had voted for emancipation. Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865 ended the remnants of slavery in Delaware and Kentucky.

26. Para. 3 • What is the main idea of Paragraph 3? • This paragraph is about the tremendous effect of the grandfather's words upon the narrator. • Those words became a constant puzzle for him. As the old man said these words ironically, the boy couldn't understand him. Although the grandfather did not appear in the battle royal scene or any other events in the rest of the book, his words haunted the narrator at every important moment in his life.

27. It was a triumph for our whole community: • It was a great success and the whole community felt happy and proud of me.

28. triumph, victory ,conquest" • "triumph" implies a victory in which one exults because of its outstanding and decisive character eg. the triumph of modern medicine • "Victory" implies the winning of a contest or struggle of any kind eg. a victory in battle, in sports, etc. • "conquest" implies victory in which one subjugates others and brings them under complete control eg. the conquests of Napoleon

29. Para. 4 • What is the function of Paragraph 4? • It tells us about the setting of the battle royal. The setting is a necessary element of a story.

30. Para. 5 • What is Paragraph 5 about? • Besides giving more details about the place, this paragraph introduces the people involved in the incident the town's big shots, and the other black boys who were to take part, who were "tough guys"

31. In those pre-invisible days I visualized myself as a potential Booker T. Washington. • (1) In those days before 1 realized I was an invisible man, I imagined that I would become a successful man like Booker T. Washington. • (2) The implied meaning is that after I discovered who I was, I no longer held that illusion. • (3) visualize: to feral a picture of someone or something in your mind, to imagine, • e. g. Don't be so pessimistic. Try to visualize a bright future.

32. The the battle royal incident : • Para. 4 --- para. 98. • 4 subsections • a. the naked white girl's dance • b. the fight itself • c. the grabbing for the prize money • d. the narrator's speech.

33. Discussion (paras6-9) • 1. Why was the protagonist frightened and attracted at the same time? • 2. I wanted at one and the same time.., to love her and murder her. • Why did the narrator feel this way?

34. 3.What is the purpose of the descriptions of the naked white girl's dancing? • 4. How is this episode related with the battle royal?

35. Alliteration: • slipping and sliding over the polished floor.

36. Paras. 10--28 • blindfold: The word has two meanings. • A. Literally it means to cover the eyes of someone with cloth or bandage. B. Figuratively it means to binder the sight or understanding of someone. • The author uses both meanings in this story. • Note the color of the doth bands is white. The author is hinting that it is the white people who cause the blindness of the blacks, blocking their vision and keeping then, from knowing the truth.

37. Blindfolding is an important symbol of the story, implying blindness and invisibility. In the battle royal, blindfolds were placed on the fighters' eyes, making it hard for them to control their motions. Just as in real life, all kinds of bondages are placed on the blacks, and consequently they can't control their own life and destiny.

38. Yet even then I had been going over my speech.., as bright as flame: • "As bright as flame" is a simile, comparing each word of his speech to bright flame. • When blindfolded, the narrator was thrown into darkness, which is a symbol of ignorance. Yet to him, the words of his speech were as bright as flame. • Note the contrast between dark and light. As light is often a symbol of hope, what the narrator meant was the only hope for him to get out of darkness was his speech. He believed that if he could give the speech the white men would recognize his value.

39. But now I felt a sudden fit of blind terror. • (1) fit: a very strong and uncontrollable emotion, e. g. In a fit of temper he slammed the door and ran out. • (2) blind terror: Transferred epithet. Logically the adjective "blind" modifies 'T', not "terror".

40. terror, fear, fright, alarm , panic • "Fear" is the general term for the anxiety and agitation felt at the presence of danger. • “Fright" applies to a sudden, shocking, usually momentary fear eg. the mouse gave her a fright “Alarm" implies the fright felt at the sudden realization of danger eg. a false alarm • “Panic" refers to a frantic, unreasoning fear, often one that spreads quickly and leads to irrational, aimless action eg.the cry of "fire!" created a panic • “Terror" applies to overwhelming, often paralyzing fear • eg. the terror of soldiers in combat

41. It was as though 1 had suddenly found myself in a dark room filled with poisonous cottonmouths: • The image of a dark room filled with poisonous snakes most effectively describes how frightened the narrator was, A cottonmouth is a poisonous snake of southeastern American swamps, the name deriving from the whitish interior of the snake's mouth, also called water moccasin.

42. Summary & Assignments • 1. Summary of each section • to make the students aware of the thoughts and ideas offered by the author and make the students know what we should learn from the lesson. • 2.Assignments: