Numerous dualities pervade throughout Ralph Ellison's classic novel, "Invisible Man": sight and blindness, unity and separation, identity and invisibility, and abandonment and gain. ... Intimidated, IM "convinces himself [that] [he] would have to submit to punishment" (147), once again abandoning his pride as a man. ... He starts to recognize his invisibility when speaking with Brother Jack; "Well, I was and yet I was invisible, that was the fundamental contradiction. ... In his new identity, the narrator finds solace for the hardships he has gone through and writes the memoir o...

• Word Count: 894
• Approx Pages: 4

"Battle Royal," by Ralph Ellison, tells the story of a young black man during segregation who struggles to discover his identity. ... The grandfather divulges to his son how he has survived in the white man's world and counsels his son to agree with what the white man says and always answer with a compliant attitude. ... The idea of invisibility surfaces most during the speech, which the narrator has continued to practice for even in the most humiliating of moments. ... The narrator represents the classic growing young man, unlearned in the ways of the world. ...

• Word Count: 769
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate