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I read this book in High School and College and I would like to be able to down load it on Kindle. Loved this book.
It is certainly worth reading again if only to take additional time to examine it more closely. The narrator, after having fought several other men for nothing more than the amusement of some wealthy upper classmen, gives a speech to them.
The initial chapters alone leave a staggering impression and give a glimpse into the terrible parody that American society can be. Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man will shock a person like few other books.
It was truly a time where the white people had done their best to subjugate African Americans in spirit, if not in body. Racism, hatred, and the belief of superiority over another race are easily identifiable throughout the book, and the white people seem oblivious to it, or act as though all is how it should be.
Invisible Man is a well written commentary on racism and details in an extraordinary style a life lived in invisibility. When he misspeaks social responsibility as social equality the crowd of white people responds with hostility and tells him to "know his place." Invisible Man is not the usual type of book I read, but it was well worth it, and it gives a lot of insight into the mind of an African American man in days gone by.
I would definently recommend it to friends and family.
As an African-American, I can say that this book is part of my cultural history. I am truly moved by its message. Ellison is a GENIUS, too often forgotten in literary classes.
"we the machines inside the machine." - from Invisible Man Just depends how far we're willing to go to see how big the machine is. Instead of being in the streets and underground taking notes of the actual, real voices and energy movement, the heads that be seem detached to me. I like the style.
Turn and face the boulder we may be absurdly pushing up the mountain; instead of mechanically running away ".because of the way I'd run, been run, chased, operated, purged." - Invisible Man Once we get to the top of the mountain, simply walk-over the boulder; because while using the resistance of the boulder, we're consciously observing and transforming and transmuting the un-proportioned rock into a chiseled Stone.As Goethe says "Everything that frees our spirit without giving us mastery over ourselves is harmful."So absurd is only absurd if we mechanistically play the role of Sisyphus through-out time. Ellison is an artist with symbols. This journey is like all others - one step at a time.
Mr. Ellison closes chapter 25 with "The end was in the beginning." This is pointing at eternity, beyond time. These are some of the things brought forth right now after finishing a bit ago.
Trying to paint what's hard to describe in words.Some other impressions I get point back to Masonry, Hegel, Marx and forward to using the synthesis and therefor dialectic in a more Hegelian technique for an individual internal revolution; because Marx extracted and removed Spirit from the process; causing an extreme shift towards materialism, which is where we find ourselves today - worshiping matter. Looking at charts on a screen with one eye.
This book was in great shape and a true value for the price. Only complaint is that the shipping time was slow.
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