Throughout this book Ralph Ellison uses metaphors for the world around the character. It shows what the society thought of the unnamed narrator and what the narrator thought society should see in him. The different people throughout the book reflect pieces of society in his struggle to achieve individuality within himself, there are also many situations in the book that allow him (the narrator) to grow and to realize just how invisible he was to the world. Through the book he discovers how the world around him views him (or lack there of) and how he views the world. Some of the best moments are when he realizes just how invisible he really is in the world, as in the prolouge where he continued to attack the white man as long as the man refused to apologize and kept insulting him. The narrator then realized that the man does not see him as an individual and the narrator walked away laughing at the thought that the man was almost killed by a "figment of his imagination".
The first chapter starts this out in a startling way, while he is looking to read his speech that he gave at graduation for he felt it was a great honor to be asked to join some of the most respectable men in the town. When he arrives however he finds himself involved involuntarily as a fighter in the "Battle Royal" where he and several other black boys are forced fight blindfolded, here the narrator gets the upper hand as his blindfold slips off a bit and he can see what is going on ever so slightly. While all he really wants to do is read his speech, he fights, after the fights the rich men throw gold coins on an electrified carpet for the boys to gather, to this extent the narrator found ways to get the coins without touching the carpet. Only by thoroughly swallowing the hypocrisy of the room and the events he has had to participate in can he finally exit the scene without further harm and in the possession of his prize.