Invisible Man - 11097 Words

According to Goethe, We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe. Despite the hyperbolic nature of Goethe s statement, it holds some truth. Because of this element of truth, society looks to psychoanalysis as an important tool for understanding human nature. Furthermore, psychoanalytic criticism of authors, characters, and readers has a place in literary criticism that is as important as the place of psychoanalysis in society. This is because of the mimetic nature of much of modern literature. In fact, the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan wrote, If psycho-analysis is to be constituted as the science of the unconscious, one must set out from the notion that the unconscious†¦show more content†¦Despite the limitations of his theories, their usefulness still exists, especially as a background for Jung and Lacan. The Freudian text at work in this analysis will be Civilization and Its Discontents. In this text, Freu d s theories about aggression and the death drive are related to societal tensions that isolate the individual. Carl Gustav Jung was somewhat of a son to Freud, but he quickly outgrew his father s theories, and, in an ironically ÂÅ'dipal conflict, overthrew Freud as the leading psychotherapist.(8) The buzzword of Jungian theory is archetype, so the text of his being used in this study is Four Archetypes. In The Critical Tradition, the editor gives the description of archetypes as structures deep in the human unconscious.(9) The editor continues and says, In Jungian analysis, the patient recapitulates his life and looks for the ways in which symbols of the above-mentioned archetypes have been embodied within its texture.(10) From Four Archetypes, the section on rebirth will be the most useful to this study. Jung s essay Rebirth includes descriptions of five different forms of rebirth along with their psychological implications. Jacques Lacan, a more recent theorist than Freud or Jun g, based his works on a revision of Freudian ideas. Lacan is the father of the philosophy of psychoanalysis. That is, he believed that psychoanalysis was a valid field of thought independent of its use as a medicinal therapy.(11) InShow MoreRelatedInvisible Man1346 Words   |  6 PagesJanelle Clovie Dr. Blanchard AP Literature 3 November 2017 Familial Connections in Invisible Man Family. It is a very fluid yet rigid idea. It has a wealth of definitions, all of which range in degree and magnitude, and vary from person to person; yet the concept of how a family should work and operate is very concrete in most American minds. Family is a bond that is crafted every second of everyday until it is powerful, and this can shape beliefs, outlooks, and confidence. A study found that childrenRead More Invisible Man Essay: Values of the Invisible Man1267 Words   |  6 PagesValues of the Invisible Man      Ã‚  Ã‚   Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man is the story of an educated black man who has been oppressed and controlled by white men throughout his life. As the narrator, he is nameless throughout the novel as he journeys from the South, where he studies at an all-black college, to Harlem where he joins a Communist-like party known as the Brotherhood. Throughout the novel, the narrator is on a search for his true identity. Several letters are given to him by outsiders thatRead More Invisible Man Essay: Self-Identity in Invisible Man1040 Words   |  5 PagesSelf-Identity in Invisible Man      Ã‚  Ã‚   In the novel, Invisible Man, the main character carries around a briefcase throughout the entire story. All of the possessions that he carries in that briefcase are mementos from learning experiences. Throughout the novel, the Invisible Man is searching for his identity and later discovers that his identity is in those items. As the narrator is leaving Marys house for the Brotherhood, he sees a Negro-doll bank in his room. He is angry that the dollRead MoreImprovisation Of The Invisible Man1392 Words   |  6 Pagesand Composition III February 15, 2017 Improvisational Music In Invisible Man â€Å"My only sin is in my skin, What did I do to be so black and blue?† The protagonist, the invisible man, is stoned from marijuana as he listened to Armstrong s rendition of What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue and determined that invisibility gives one a slightly different sense of time, you re never quite on the beat. (Prologue.)† The invisible man respected Armstrong for making something beautiful out of invisibilityRead MoreHamlet Invisible Man1412 Words   |  6 Pagesthe need to search for . In Shakespeare’s â€Å"Hamlet† and Ellison’s Invisible Man, the feminine character traits of the protagonists are alluded to as the cause of their failures, which supports the idea that the inward battle between masculinity and femininity exist as the characters journey closer to their identity. â€Å"It has been generally believed that males stand as opposed to females physically, intellectually, and emotionally. Man is supposed to be strong, courageous, rational and sexually aggressive;Read MoreThe Evolution of the Invisible Man in Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison1032 Words   |  5 PagesThe Evolution of the Invisible Man in Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison In everyones life, there are growing experiences. People evolve not only physically as they get older but also ideologically. Perhaps they might become wiser or shrug off the trendy doctrines that may have tried to shape their destiny long ago. Ralph Ellison illustrates this struggle of change in Invisible Man. The novel begins with a naà ¯ve young, black man in the South caught under the evil boot of racism. As the novelRead MoreThe Narrator As An Invisible Man1305 Words   |  6 Pageshimself to the reader as an invisible man. The Narrator makes it clear that he is not actually invisible but is considered as such because people refuse to see him. The Narrator is speaking from an underground space illuminated by a ridiculous number of light bulbs underneath a whites-only building. He goes on to tell the reader that he was not always in this predicament and begins to tell the tale of his younger days which led him to his current situation. Invisible Man pleads that the reader bearRead More Invisible Man Essay: Invisible Man and the Pre-Made Identity1559 Words   |  7 PagesInvisible Man and the Pre-Made Identity    Society forms definitions, or stereotypes, of people according to the color of their skin, their economic status, or where they live. Stereotypes define how society believes these people should act and how they should be treated. These stereotypes are, in effect, a pre-made identity. There are three options an individual must face when presented with this pre-made identity. The individual can accept this identity as his/her own. This would maximizeRead MoreThe Brotherhoods in the Invisible Man2033 Words   |  9 PagesThe Brotherhood in the Invisible Man Brotherhoods are associations, usually of men, that unite for common purposes. The members in the brotherhood typically respect one another, defend one another, and cooperate to obtain specific goals. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States, whose goal is to create better employment opportunities for workers. Kappa Sigma and Sigma Chi are two of the largest university fraternities in the countryRead More The Invisible Man Essay964 Words   |  4 Pages The Invisible Man, by H.G. Wells, is composed of many small themes that combined to form two major themes in the novel. Some of the minor themes are acting before thinking and denial of unexplainable events. It is based on the two major themes of science experiments gone wrong and the ignorance of society. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The most important theme in the novel was the experiment that Griffin, the invisible man, was working and it was not going exactly as planned. The way that the experiment