“Invisible Man” Summary

In the prologue to “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison, the author addresses the theme of feeling invisible. The author, I believe is Black which is why he feels he is invisible sometimes. He depicts himself as someone who “turned” invisible because people around him refuse to recognize him as a person that’s “… of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids…” (312). One night, he bumped into a guy and beat him up for it. The next day he finds out the guy was on the news for being “mugged”. He chooses to live underground. It’s “a hole in the ground”, and refers to himself as a bear that hibernates. Although he calls himself the invisible man, he likes to live in the light because it reminds him he is still alive.