Invisible Man

• Genre: Fiction; literary realistic
• Originally Published: 1952
• Reading Level/Interest: College/Adult
• Structure/Length: 22 chapters; approx. 581 pages; 18 hours, 36 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: The novel examines African American oppression in 1930s America through the lens of a Black, nameless narrator.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Race in America; racism, prejudice, and discrimination; gender roles/stereotypes and sexuality; mature content

Ralph Ellison, Author

• Bio: 1914-1994; born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; trained as a musician at Tuskegee Institute; taught at several universities, including Yale, Rutgers, and NYU; worked on the Federal Writers’ Project from 1938-1942
• Other Works: Shadow and Act (1964); Going to the Territory (1986); Flying Home, and Other Stories (1996)
• Awards: National Book Award for Fiction (1953); National Medal of Arts (1985)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Race in 20th-Century America
• Journey Toward Self-Understanding and Adult Identity
• Alienation From a Sense of Place Through Involuntary Resettlement

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Gain an understanding of the historical context regarding the Jim Crow era in which Invisible Man is set.
• Read and discuss paired texts and other resources to make connections via the text’s themes of race, respectability, and stereotypes in the 20th and 21st centuries in America.
• Analyze and evaluate plot and character details to draw conclusions in essay responses regarding gender, character development, and the novel’s historical context.