Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

 Hello my lovely readers!

I'm writing this before I leave for Ireland, England and Scotland later today. So this I'll try to make this as quick as possible.

“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves or figments of their imagination, indeed, everything and anything except me.”

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Timeless. Classic. An important read. Let's get into it.

SUMMARY
A nameless, college-educated Black man makes his way through 20th century U.S. as he moves from the South to Harlem. He struggles to survive and succeed in a racially divided society that refuses to see him as a human being.

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?

First published in 1952, the narrator takes the reader to a "battle royal" where Black men are reduced to fighting animals; to a Communist rally where they are elevated to the status of trophies; and through day to day life where police brutality and racism are the norm.

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is one of the most audacious and dazzling novels of our century.

MY THOUGHTS
This book really defines why I love classic Black literature. The writing during this time period was so simple, yet so effective. A book that is simply about a man's day to day life was absolutely powerful. Ellison's book is still so relevant and needed today. An American classic.