Ralph Ellisons Protests Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

Ralph Ellisons Protests It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at ones self by the eyes of others, of measuring ones soul by the tape of the world that looks on in amused contempt and pity - W.E.B. DuBois, 1903 When discussing a text that is position firmly into an accepted category of ethnicity, it seems reasonable to look for allegories, tropes, and symbols that hearken adventure to the ancestral texts of that groups literary canon. Like a golden cord that catches the eye as it pokes up between the warp and woof of words, tradition organic evolution can be traced from the earliest texts, causing a student to fountainhead to the page and say, The trope of the mask whereupon notes are scribbled in the margin and the descriptor of the text, how it fits into the big picture of categorization, begins to take form. African-American literature has a copious tradition that exemplifies this concept From Equiano and Harriot Jac obs slave narratives to Nella Larsen and James Wheldon Johnsons passing from Phyllis Wheatley and Countee Cullens solemn perfect poetic forms to the eloquent anger of the 1960s Black Arts movement, the world-wide thread of discord and displacement influence the overall design of African-American literature. Then there is Invisible Man. One of the most celebrated texts in African-American literature, Invisible Man has been interpreted as relying heavily on African-American folk tradition for its deep, rich resonance. But in essays astir(predicate) literature and the folly of literary critics, Ellison defends Invisible Man against simple categorization. It is much than a Negro coming-of-age tale, more than a Negro picaresque mental travelogue, and m... ...allow anyone to gloss over the distinction. Works Cited Callahan, John F., intro. Reflections out of season on race, identity and art. American Culture is of a Whole from the Letters of Ralph Ellison. The upstart R epublic. 1 March 1999. DuBois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folks. Norton Anthology of African American literary works. Ed. Henry Gates, younger New York Norton. 1997. 514. Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. 1947. New York Vintage. 1995. ---. Shadow and Act. 1953. Slip the Joke, Change the Yolk. Twentieth-Century allegory and the Black Mask of Humanity. The World and the Jug. New York Vintage. 1964. Howe, Irving. Black Boys and Native Sons. A World More Attractive A View of Modern Literature and Politics. New York Horizon. 1963. Hyman, Stanley Edgar. The Promised End Essays and Reviews 1942-1962. Cleveland World. 1963.