Invisibility in Literature

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how within three well-known works of literature, Gwendolyn Brooks' poem "We Real Cool"; Ralph Ellison's novel excerpt (from "Invisible Man") "Battle Royal", and Shakespeare's "Hamlet", the authors all imply character or subject invisibility, albeit differently from one another, in terms not just of genre itself, but also in terms of author viewpoint and artistic and personal intent.

From the Paper:

"In Ellison's "Battle Royal", though, the unnamed narrator is "invisible", and describes himself that way, because he is black and white people therefore treat him as if he were invisible, that is, unimportant, not even a person. The major problem with this, for him personally, is that he has to an extent internalized this view of himself as "invisible", and now must fight hard (within the whole novel, not just "Battle Royal" to negate his "invisibility in his own mind. He is in search of his true self, in a social milieu that makes self-discovery of that kind especially difficult for young black males. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Brooks, Gwendolyn. "We Real Cool", Modern American Poetry 1997. Retrieved December 12, 2006, from: < http://www. english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_ f/ brooks/werealcool.htm>.
• Ellison, Ralph. "Battle Royal." Invisible Man. New York: The Modern Library, 1994.
• Shakespeare, William. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. In The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Vol. C (Pkg. 1). (Eds. Sarah Lawall et al.). New York: Norton, 2002. 2828-2918.

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