Invisible Man

My first thoughts on Ellison's Invisible Man are strangely straight forward; boring and dramatic. Unfortunately, after only reading a few pages, I gave up reading Invisible Man for a few weeks. As a result, I ended up forgetting what occurred within the novel, so I had to read it again. This is most likely why I was bored with this novel. The novel starts with a narrator who has no name, and for some reason, introduces himself as a man who no one notices.. Thus, the novel is called Invisible Man. He recalls multiple events such as his speech, boxing match, and graduation. When he provides part of the entertainment, a naked and very sexual dancer with a USA flag tattoo is shown where all of the classmates are forced to watch. Here I noticed a problem with the current society. This scene destroys the typical view of America and the objects that it finds most important, which would be the American Dream. However, the tattoo on the woman's stomach shows that the values have transformed into sex and money. Another strange thing I noticed was that during the narrator's speech, it did not seem truthful. It seems as though his own experiences taught him that the American Dream is a myth for blacks.
As the novel continues on, the narrator is continuing his goal of having an identity.