Racial Stigma in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

Abstract

The main issue in the novelInvisible Manby Ralph Ellisonisthe internalization of racist ideology by the black characters. The narrator, a black character of the novel moves constantly from one place to the next to get his real identity.He feels his lifecomplicated bya racist American society. Though, he is conscious about his African American values, he fails to assert his real self. The failure of the narrator to define himself as an African American being results from his own internalization of ideologyofracism and expectation of white people pervasive in his society.Dr. Bledsoe, the Negro president at the black local college, believes that black should work hard and adopt the customs and manner of white to get a success. The blackcharacters are stereotypically behaved and discriminated by whites due to the internalization of racist ideology that causes the crisis of identity.