Invisible Man

Choose a female character in the novel (Mary, Emma, Sybil, etc.). What role does she play in the story? How is she characterized, and how does Ellison’s characterization influence the reader’s perception of her? Use textual support for your thoughts. 

Choose another work of Ellison’s (either an essay from his nonfiction volumes Shadow and Act and Going to the Territory or his fiction works Flying Home and Other Stories or Juneteenth). Does the other work show signs of Ellison’s ideas about social progress and conditions evolving over time? If so, what are the differences between Invisible Man and the work? If not, what are the similarities? Use the texts to support your argument. 

How might Invisible Man be different if it were written in the early-21st century rather than in the 1950s? What aspects of the protagonist’s experience would be the same? Which would be different? Use contemporary fiction or news stories from reputable sources to help you compare and contrast the two time periods. 

What role does the Civil War play in Invisible Man, if any? Does World War II play a role (perhaps in foreshadowing)? (Keep in mind that much of the novel’s timeline is set prior to World War II in the 1930s, but that it was published in 1952.)

Which antagonistic force (slavery, the Jim Crow South, Bledsoe’s betrayal, the protagonist’s operation, Ras, or the Brotherhood) has the most negative effect on the protagonist? Why?

Choose another novel in which the protagonist must grapple with racial power structures (some ideas include: Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, or Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin). What similarities and differences are there between the discoveries of Invisible Man’s protagonist and the protagonist of the other work?

Is there a significance to the settings of Invisible Man? If so, what is it? If not, why not?

Choose a passage in Invisible Man that could be considered experimental or unconventional in terms of narrative style. What role does the passage play? What might Ellison’s intent for the style of that passage have been, and does the passage fulfill that intent?