Character Analysis

In Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, the main character is the narrator is the main character. The narrator is a very dynamic character. Thats the way it should be, since the entire story is about the changes he undergoes. If the narrator wasn't dynamic, the story might be even more boring!

At the beginning of the story, the narrator is a very naive teenager. He gets a scholarship to the state black college after writing a speech. After he is kicked out by Bledsoe, he travels to New York. He slowly (VERY slowly) begins to realize that some people are two faced, mainly after he reads Bledsoe's letters. He still doesn't quite realize that the world is full of bad people. Not the brightest guy in the world, is he?

The author develops the main character through direct characterization, and a little through indirect characterization. Since you can read/hear what the narrator thinks, it allows you to look at his personality via what he thinks. You get to see his comments on everything happening around him, from the person sitting next to him, to what the weather is like. Occasionally, you get to see people's reactions to the narrator. A good example of this would be union meeting that he walks in on. They immediately become hostile, just from his presence. "'Throw the lousy bastard out!'" (P.220). On the other hand, he feels pressured by everyone else, even if there isn't any immediate evidence of this. "What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?" (P. 266).

Personality wise, the narrator is a very curious person. He is always sharing with the reader his thoughts about every single thing that happens to him (although I won't go into detail about how much I dislike that). As I said earlier, he starts off very naive, thinking that no one will double cross him. The first time this happens is when he is to deliver his speech. It ends up being a battle-royale between him and half a dozen other black boys. All the while, he still looks forward to delivering his speech. The second time is when he gets expelled, and Bledsoe sends him to New York. The entire time, he believes that the letters will help him get a job, when in all actuality, they manage to screw him over. After he is told of their real content, he actually begins to think of people as actually being capable of doing bad, as before then, he just assumed that they had his best intentions in mind. That is my character analysis of the narrator in Invisible Man.