Invisible Man: Prologue - Chapter 2

"I am an invisible man."

Ralph Ellison

Hello, readers!

I’m reading Invisible Man for the first time, right along with you. I didn’t know anything about it before jumping in and I came away from these first ~70 pages in a bit of a daze. The introductory scenes were powerful and strange and disturbing — which I think is exactly what Ralph Ellison intended.

When Ellison reflected on the book’s importance, he cited its “experimental attitude” as perhaps its most important attribute. So far, I’d have to agree. I’ve read thousands of books and not encountered anything quite like this.

I found myself highlighting fewer lines than I usually do — I was caught up in the fever dream of Ellison’s unforgettable scenes. I didn’t quite know what to make of the story just yet, but let’s discuss it anyway!

Prologue

"I am an invisible man."

How memorable was that opening page? Just incredible. Our narrator, who has no name, declares himself invisible. Not physically, mind you, but existentially:

“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”

In these opening pages, the narrator discusses the effects of this societal invisibility:

“you often doubt if you really exist”

“You ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world.”

I was awestruck by these observations, which feel as fresh today as they would have in 1952 when the book was first published.

After the opening pages, we start to learn a bit about this narrator. He lives in a “hole” in an apartment building, which he’s rigged with stolen lighting, literally stealing power from The Man. What a metaphor to start with!