Searching For The Lost Self

Ralph Ellison is a famous contemporary African American writer. In 1952, he published his novel Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award in 1953 and made him well-known both at home and abroad. It is acknowledged as one of the most important and influential Afro-American novels since World WarⅡand occupies an essential position in the twentieth century American literature and the world literature.Since the publication of Invisible Man, critics have interpreted the novel from different perspectives such as its craft, complex themes and rich cultural sources, etc. The diverse approaches and pluralistic perspectives of criticism reflect the inclusive nature of the novel itself. However, up to now, there has been little research on the novel as an Initiation Story. Therefore, from the angle of Initiation Story, this thesis intends to make a comprehensive analysis of how the protagonist acquires the knowledge of himself, the black tradition and the society and thus achieves his identity through realizing his ridiculous state of being invisible in the hostile circumstances from three levels: personal level, cultural level and social level. This thesis also discusses the general characteristics an Initiation Story contains such as the formulated-plot-pattern, initiation guides and epiphany as manifested in Invisible Man, with the help of which, the initiation theme of the novel is made prominent.This thesis is divided into five parts.The introduction provides some background knowledge about Ralph Ellison and his Invisible Man, and makes a review of the criticisms on this novel since its publication.Chapter One is the theoretical framework which introduces the definition of Initiation Story, the development of Initiation Story in Europe and in America, as well as its general characteristics. As an everlasting theme, Initiation Story, or Bildungsroman, has a long history and possesses an important position in western literature. Chapter Two mainly analyzes the initiation theme of Invisible Man from three aspects: the protagonist's self-awareness, cultural-awareness and social-awareness. The protagonist's self-awareness undergoes the psychological process from innocence to experience. After suffering a series of betrayals and disillusionments, he finally gets rid of his illusions of obtaining power and success by catering to the whites and grows into a mature and introspective man who is really aware of himself. The protagonist's cultural-awareness does not occur until he gradually accepts the black tradition and culture which he has been ashamed of and tried to conceal all the time. It is the strength and courage he absorbs from the black music and black folktales that help him overcome the confusion and frustration during his life-journey. The protagonist's social-awareness appears after he abandons all the different ideologies he believes in different stages of his life. At last, the protagonist realizes his invisibility. Only by realizing his invisibility can he obtain visibility and a concrete social identity to take the social obligation.Chapter Three explores the general characteristics of Initiation Story in Invisible Man as shown in the formulated plot pattern, initiation guides and epiphany to confirm that Invisible Man is a typical Initiation Story. Invisible Man follows the formulated plot pattern of Initiation Story: innocence—temptation—leaving home—trials—bewilderment—epiphany—knowledge of life and discovery. It reveals the Afro-Americans'growing hardship in a white-dominated society. The initiation guides the protagonist encounters and the epiphany he experiences along his initiation journey promote his self-awakening, cultural-awakening and social-awakening, which leads to his transformation from naivety to maturity.The thesis ends with the conclusion that Invisible Man is a typical Initiation Story. Through describing the protagonist's growing-up journey from self-loss, self-quest to self-realization, Invisible Man reveals the American blacks'search for self and the value of self-existence after World WarⅡ, which indicates widespread and profound social significance. The protagonist's growth journey may give enlightenment to the perplexed young people in their self-construction and self-realization in the modern world.