| Ralph Ellison is known as one of the most influential writers of the black community. Ellison, as did many of his literary counterparts, lived in a time of intense political and social turmoil. This M.A. thesis examines the extent to which Ellison reflects/incorporates into his novel, Invisible Man, the critical political and sociological concerns of the African-American people during the 1920s and 30s. The three major movements of this era through which the Invisible Man travels were Black Nationalism, unionism and communism. Although Ellison alters some of the circumstances in actual history to give his novel a fictional flair, there is no doubt that Ellison uses a historical base to structure Invisible Man's journey. The connections between the African-American struggle for equal rights and early political activism depicted in the novel, Invisible Man, will be the focus of this thesis. |
