Ralph Ellison Was the Grandson of Slaves. Term Paper

Ralph Ellison was the grandson of slaves. He was born in Oklahoma in 1914, where he was also raised (Tulsa). He developed a love for jazz music at a very young age, and Ellison maintained a circle of friends that included many jazz musicians. He studied two instruments - the coronet, and the trumpet, with intentions of becoming a "jazz man" himself. He studied music at the prominent black college founded by Booker T. Washington, the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. After a three-year period, he left Alabama for New York, where he became friends with such African-American writers as Richard Wright, and Langston Hughes. He worked as an editor of an African-American newsletter before serving during World War II as a Merchant Marine. After his stint in the war, Ellison received a fellowship, which he used to fund his only novel ever completed - Invisible Man. The full, complete manuscript was published in 1952. The novel received unprecedented critical acclaim, as well as success commercially.Ellison worked on another novel, but died in 1994 before the work was completed. He published two collections of essays, but the success of Invisible Man may have prevented Ellison from writing more than he did.

MAIN CHARACTERS

The main character, our protagonist, is nameless. He is the embodiment of the title - Invisible Man. He is the narrator meaning that he is telling the story, but he is also the main character, and the focus of the novel's progression. The story focuses on the changes that happen morally and emotionally to the narrator's character. While he remains nameless, he does develop into his own person by the stories resolution - he goes from a more innocent person who looks for the best….....