Ralph Ellisons Protests Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

Ralph Ellisons Protests It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at ones self through the kernels of others, of measuring ones soul by the tape of the world that looks on in amused contempt and pity - W.E.B. DuBois, 1903 When discussing a schoolbook that is placed firmly into an accepted category of ethnicity, it seems reasonable to look for allegories, tropes, and symbols that hearken back to the ancestral texts of that groups literary canon. Like a golden cord that catches the eye as it pokes up between the warp and woof of words, tradition development can be traced from the earliest texts, causing a student to point to the rapscallion and say, The trope of the mask whereupon notes are scribbled in the margin and the shape of the text, how it fits into the big picture of categorization, begins to take form. African-American literature has a rich tradition that exemplifies this image From Equiano and Harriot Jacobs slave na rratives to Nella Larsen and James Wheldon Johnsons passing from Phyllis Wheatley and Countee Cullens solemn classical poetic forms to the eloquent anger of the 1960s Black Arts movement, the universal thread of discord and geological fault influence the overall design of African-American literature. Then there is Invisible worldly concern. One of the most celebrated texts in African-American literature, Invisible Man has been construe as relying heavily on African-American folk tradition for its deep, rich resonance. But in essays about literature and the folly of literary critics, Ellison defends Invisible Man against simple categorization. It is more than a Negro coming-of-age tale, more than a Negro picaresque psychological travelogue, and m... ...allow anyone to gloss over the distinction. Works Cited Callahan, John F., intro. Reflections out of assuage on race, identity and art. American Culture is of a Whole from the Letters of Ralph Ellison. The New Republic. 1 March 1999. DuBois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folks. Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Ed. Henry Gates, jr. New York Norton. 1997. 514. Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. 1947. New York Vintage. 1995. ---. Shadow and Act. 1953. Slip the Joke, Change the Yolk. Twentieth-Century Fiction and the Black Mask of Humanity. The existence and the Jug. New York Vintage. 1964. Howe, Irving. Black Boys and Native Sons. A World More Attractive A View of Modern Literature and Politics. New York Horizon. 1963. Hyman, Stanley Edgar. The Promised End Essays and Reviews 1942-1962. Cleveland World. 1963.