The Invisible Man
For my American Ethnic Literature class I have to read Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man." A novel written in 1947 about a black man living in dehumanizing conditions, but what at the time was considered normal conditions. Right now I'm having problems processing what I've read with something other than horror and nauseous convulsions of my stomach. I read the passage where the narrator has been invited to recite his oration on social responsibility to the leading members of his community. Instead He is met with drunkenness and scurrilous behavior of white men who act like the animals they believe black men are. The debauchery of the upstanding men of the community - if you can call them that - sickened me to the point where I had to force myself to finish the passage.
"We were rushed up to the front of the ballroom where it smelled even more strongly of tobacco and whiskey. Then we were pushed into place. I almost wet my pants. A sea of faces, some hostile, some amused, ringed around us, and in the center, facing us, stood a magnificent blonde - stark naked...All the while t he blonde continued dancing, smiling faintly at the bit shots who watched her with fascination. I noticed a certain merchant who followed her hungerly, his lips loose and drooling. It was mad. Chairs went crashing, drinks were spilt as the ran laughing and howling after her. They caught her just as she reached the door, raised her from the floor and tossed her as college boys are tossed at a hazing..."
Their pleasure not just at the abuse and degrading of the blonde dancer but the deliberate torture and malicious behavior towards the young black men made me want to vomit. The rug with their money was wire to electrify them all for the amusement and entertainment of people I can't even classify as human. But as an American this is my heritage. This is what America's walls are built upon. How can I be proud to be an American when so many found humor in excessive indulgence of tormenting and the defilment of their fellow humans and American's. What sickens me the most is that no one tried to stop their licentious behavior. In a room filled with bankers, merchants, lawyers, preachers, school teachers, judges and doctors no one tried to stop what many must have known was wrong. Not only did they not try to stop it but they tried to justify it by giving the narrator a scholarship to a "colored university". They literally bribed him with money bloodied by his own blood. How sick is that?
"We were rushed up to the front of the ballroom where it smelled even more strongly of tobacco and whiskey. Then we were pushed into place. I almost wet my pants. A sea of faces, some hostile, some amused, ringed around us, and in the center, facing us, stood a magnificent blonde - stark naked...All the while t he blonde continued dancing, smiling faintly at the bit shots who watched her with fascination. I noticed a certain merchant who followed her hungerly, his lips loose and drooling. It was mad. Chairs went crashing, drinks were spilt as the ran laughing and howling after her. They caught her just as she reached the door, raised her from the floor and tossed her as college boys are tossed at a hazing..."
Their pleasure not just at the abuse and degrading of the blonde dancer but the deliberate torture and malicious behavior towards the young black men made me want to vomit. The rug with their money was wire to electrify them all for the amusement and entertainment of people I can't even classify as human. But as an American this is my heritage. This is what America's walls are built upon. How can I be proud to be an American when so many found humor in excessive indulgence of tormenting and the defilment of their fellow humans and American's. What sickens me the most is that no one tried to stop their licentious behavior. In a room filled with bankers, merchants, lawyers, preachers, school teachers, judges and doctors no one tried to stop what many must have known was wrong. Not only did they not try to stop it but they tried to justify it by giving the narrator a scholarship to a "colored university". They literally bribed him with money bloodied by his own blood. How sick is that?
posted by Rebecca at 1:34 AM
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