Invisible Man Essay: Puppet or Puppeteer? :: Invisible Man Essays

Invisible Man Puppet or Puppeteer? One could argue that we are all scarce puppets, or dolls, doomed to dance by invisible strings - never realizing who pulls the strings. Ralph Ellisons novel, The Invisible Man is fraught with images of dolls as if to constantly reminded the reader that no unrivalled is in complete control of their life. The first example of doll imagery comes very early in the novel with the Battle Royal scene. The nude, blonde woman is described as having hair that was yellow like that of a circus kewpie doll (19). Ellison draws a very strong connection between the plight of the pitch blackness man and the white woman. The fact that they are both demon as puppets or dolls in the work is no coincidence. The woman and the African are merely show pieces for the white men in the novel. Tod Cliftons dancing Sambo dolls are the most striking example of doll imagery. This small tissue paper doll has the potentiality to completely change the Invisible Man. When he sees that the powerful and enigmatic Clifton is the one hawking the abominable dolls, the narrator is so filled with humiliation and rage that he spits upon the dancing figure. But what is it that has caused this surging of fury? It is Tod Clifton and not the narrator who has degraded himself to such a base level. However, it is our narrators sudden comprehension of his own perspective that causes his wrath. The line For a second our eyes met and he gave me a contemptuous smile (433) illustrates this moment of realization for our narrator. It shows the reader that Tod Clifton was aware of his position as a puppet all along and chooses to enlighten the narrator at this particular point in the novel. The Invisible Man recognizes that all his life hes been a slave and a puppet to others. Whether those others were Bledsoe, his grandfather, or the brotherhood is irrelevant, but there has always been and imperceptible string attached to him governing everything he does. Not only wh en a string but his own physical characteristics echo those of the grotesque Sambo dolls. Its cardboard hands were clenched into fists. The fingers outlined in orange paint, and I discover that it had two faces, one on either side of the disks of cardboard, and both grinning.