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    Poetry Invisible Man Synthesis

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    Both Maya Angelou's poem "Equality" and Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man comment on how society shapes perceptions of identity for black people in the early 20th century United States. The speaker in the poem and narrator in the novel see how white society views black communities through a distorted lens that propagates stereotypes. This warps reality and causes an identity crisis, as the narrator's sense of self is confused by others' desires and expectations. Both works convey a tone of determination to overcome the painful history and hostility faced by challenging social norms. While the speaker's resolve remains steady, the narrator develops a stronger sense of determination through his experiences, ultimately choosing to define himself rather than adopt the views of others

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    Poetry Invisible Man Synthesis

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    131 views4 pages
    Both Maya Angelou's poem "Equality" and Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man comment on how society shapes perceptions of identity for black people in the early 20th century United States. The speaker in the poem and narrator in the novel see how white society views black communities through a distorted lens that propagates stereotypes. This warps reality and causes an identity crisis, as the narrator's sense of self is confused by others' desires and expectations. Both works convey a tone of determination to overcome the painful history and hostility faced by challenging social norms. While the speaker's resolve remains steady, the narrator develops a stronger sense of determination through his experiences, ultimately choosing to define himself rather than adopt the views of others

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    Both Maya Angelou's poem "Equality" and Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man comment on how society shapes perceptions of identity for black people in the early 20th century United States. The speaker in the poem and narrator in the novel see how white society views black communities through a distorted lens that propagates stereotypes. This warps reality and causes an identity crisis, as the narrator's sense of self is confused by others' desires and expectations. Both works convey a tone of determination to overcome the painful history and hostility faced by challenging social norms. While the speaker's resolve remains steady, the narrator develops a stronger sense of determination through his experiences, ultimately choosing to define himself rather than adopt the views of others

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    131 views4 pages

    Poetry Invisible Man Synthesis

    Uploaded by

    api-269386919
    Both Maya Angelou's poem "Equality" and Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man comment on how society shapes perceptions of identity for black people in the early 20th century United States. The speaker in the poem and narrator in the novel see how white society views black communities through a distorted lens that propagates stereotypes. This warps reality and causes an identity crisis, as the narrator's sense of self is confused by others' desires and expectations. Both works convey a tone of determination to overcome the painful history and hostility faced by challenging social norms. While the speaker's resolve remains steady, the narrator develops a stronger sense of determination through his experiences, ultimately choosing to define himself rather than adopt the views of others

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    of 4

    Kuo 1

    Ian Kuo
    Mrs. Smit
    12 AP English
    9 January 2015
    Invisible Man and Equality: A Look Back in Time at Racial Roles and Identity
    History has been full of distinct movements that look at society around them and see
    unfair treatment or a change that society as a whole needs to make. This has been the basis of
    Womens suffrage movement, Civil Rights movement, the Gay Pride movement, and many
    more. Within the literature and media of a certain time, a reader can see the author or speakers
    want to send a message to the general public about the philosophies they are fighting for or
    against. In many of these works, society has been seen as the culprit through hatred, stereotypes,
    and even violence. In Maya Angelous poem Equality and Ralph Ellisons novel Invisible Man,
    both writers comment on how a person or groups identity can be blurred and skewed based on
    societal ideals, standards, and desires.
    Throughout both works, the speaker in Equality and the narrator in Invisible Man
    reference the idea of identity of a black man or woman within the American community in the
    20th century. For instance, the speaker in Equality sees how white society looks at the black
    communities very dimly//through a glass which will not shine causing the views and the
    stereotypes and warping the thoughts of what the African American race is in reality (Angelou 12). These stereotypes that society creates for the black population is a result of looking through
    that glass, warping what the viewer sees and causing a misconception about reality. As well, the
    narrator of Invisible Man understands this phenomenon. The narrator tells his story towards the
    audience as a flashback into his life in college and New York. The narrator is nave as a teenager

    Kuo 2
    and blindly follows societys concept of where blacks belong in the white community. However,
    as the narrator goes through college, the Brotherhood, and eventually into his underground home,
    he never understands his true position in the world as he sees himself as the new Booker T.
    Washington when being recruited by the Brotherhood. Also, at another time, he sees himself
    like a pawn when he was betrayed by his own Brotherhood (Ellison 305). His identity, in his
    mind, is lost because of society skewing his character because of others desires to advance in
    society as well as the stereotypes that are seen through that glass that will not shine. This identity
    crisis that the narrator feels creates a sense of ambiguity within the audience as the narrator tries
    to make his audience feel the lack of identity. There is very little knowledge that the narrator tells
    about himself to the readers. There is no understanding of the college he went, where he lives
    before New York City and Harlem, and even what his name is. Throughout the novel, the
    narrator speaks about the state college for Negroes created by the Founder using
    insignificant, general terms to describe the specificities of each while knowing his own identity
    has been confused and lost (Ellison 32; Ellison 36). Thus, the narrator, as a result, skews his own
    identity and puts a glass to the readers eyes almost as a message about the stereotypes and
    misconceptions of the black community during this time.
    As well, both the narrator and the speaker have a similar tone towards the hostility and
    stereotypes they both feel society places on them. Both of them can be seen with a tone of
    determination towards the skewed identity that societys standards and desires create when the
    American population looks at the African American race through the glass mentioned in
    Angelous poem Equality. The revelation discovered by both of them is to do what they, think
    is best and go against the social norms, if necessary and keep on marching forward through the
    painful history of the black community and the hostility felt by others (Angelou 17). For

    Kuo 3
    example, the narrator and Clifton, two of the black members of the Brotherhood, were slowly
    and subtly moved out of the Brotherhood power and authority even causing Clifton to move to
    the streets to sell his dolls. Yet, at Cliftons death, the narrator saw this as an untimely and
    wrongful end and, as a result, delivered a vehement speech at the funeral in honor of Clifton,
    which the Brotherhood did not see with the best of thoughts in mind. The narrator knew that this
    passionate speech was his personal responsibility for Clifton (Ellison 463). Here the narrator
    begins showing his tone of determination more clearly as he focuses on personal wants as
    opposed to the social responsibility that he speaks of as a nave teenager in one of his first
    speeches (Ellison 30). The narrator realizes that society and its desires have failed him. His
    realization causes the determination to want to cause the Brotherhood to become insignificant
    because of the misaligned black identities that the Brotherhood enhanced as well as their desires
    to move to a more national scale. As well, the speaker of the poem shows the audience his or her
    determination to a similar community. The speaker knows that society has failed the black
    community and wants to take the blinders from [their] vision and the padding from [their]
    ears in order to make them realize the harm and consequences that the skewed identities of the
    African American community has caused (Angelou 21; Angelou 22). The speaker admits they
    had had a hard past and knows the stereotypes caused by society, yet the speaker also knows to
    keep on moving forward in order to make them see what they have done. However, in the end,
    both the speaker and the narrator have different intensities of the determination they feel through
    the progression of their respective work. The speakers level of determination stays consistent
    with her drumsbeating nightly//and the rhythms [that] never change[s] (Angelou 27-28). Yet
    the narrator has to grow up to the level of determination seen closer to the end of the novel. Even

    Kuo 4
    then, the invisibility the narrator creates changes that tone slightly as he learns to be determined
    to move above the evils of society instead of adopt[ing] the opinions of others (Ellison 573).
    Overall, both Maya Angelous poem and Ralph Ellison novel represent the idea of how a
    society can change the view onto another type of community. Even though the speaker of
    Equality is immediately seen to have known this truth about some of the evils of society, the
    narrator has to learn this through experience after his teenage years causing the basis of a
    bildungsroman type of novel that Ellison creates for his audience. Through this experience, the
    audience can learn with the narrator the societys ability to skew the identity of a person or
    population while the speaker of the poem can affirm this message and show the determination
    and tone behind it. Society is full of first impressions and skewed identities. However, the many
    novels, poems, and other works can be used to send this message and let the past not be
    forgotten.

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