IM-DLR-2014
Zoot Suit Riots: - series of riots that happened during WWII in Los Angeles between white sailors and the Latino community - wool was rationed during WWII - zoot suits were baggy, wool suits - sailers would try to tear off suits from young Mexican Americans (drag out of movie theaters + articles describing how to "de-zoot zoot suiters") - thought Latino community was provoking them by displaying extravagance during war times - ties to Invisible Man: judging people by stereotypes and appearances, power struggle between whites and minorities
Marcus Garvey -founded Black Star Line—>attempted to move Blacks back to Africa (Back to Africa Movement) -very pro black; anti-white->similar to Ras the Exhorter -part of Rastafarian Movement; came to be seen as a prophet -promoted Pan-Africanism -Du Bois feared that Garvey's activities would undermine his efforts toward black rights -"I regard the Klan, the Anglo-Saxon clubs and White American societies, as far as the Negro is concerned, as better friends of the race than all other groups of hypocritical whites put together. I like honesty and fair play. You may call me a Klansman if you will, but, potentially, every white man is a Klansman, as far as the Negro in competition with whites socially, economically and politically is concerned, and there is no use lying."
W.E.B. DuBois -An early black civil rights advocate -Leader of the Niagara movement which later became the NAACP -His idea for the advancement of civil rights was that blacks should try to better themselves and not care about what whites forced on them -This contrasts with Booker T. Washington who believes that blacks should work with whites do what they expect -The narrator should not restrict himself to the expectations of whites or the Brotherhood -Would be similar to Ras in that he believed that blacks should work with blacks to advance themselves
Tulsa Race Riot 1921 -White woman went into store elevator -came out screaming and assumed black man had raped her -black man fled but arrested -mobs were trying to lynch the man, came to the prison the man was at -black and whites clashed, shot, burned city -similar to in IM where people are looting stores until chaos subsides
Sambo Dolls
- Originally an Indian Doll - By the time of the Invisible Man, the term is used as derogatory towards blacks - The dolls on strings represent how the blacks are the puppets of society
Communist Party
Political party that believes in equality for all of its members; believes in the overthrow of capitalism; the idea shows up in the Brotherhood, which works to overthrow the established order; Communism like Brotherhood, is also corrupt at the higher ranks.
Big Ideas
What is the book about
- Racism
- Identity
- The nature of society between Civil War and WW 1
- Disillusionment
- What makes a person human?
- Fighting a stereotype of a stereotype
- Misconception of people's motives
- View of racial interaction
Style
- Surreallism
- Role of speeches
- kinds of rhetorical and oratorical devices in the speeches
- Use of sounds and music
Some paper ideas/titles
- Rewrite a scene from a different narrator’s point of view. Critique the two scenes (yours and Ellison’s)
- I Am Invisible: Invisible Man as a Personal Narrative
- Surrealism in Invisible Man and how it works (plusses and minuses)
- Being invisible is a cop-out
- Invisible Man as social criticism
- Ras Was Right
- Get Back in Your Hole, Boy
- The Invisible Man is a Failure
- Ellison is arguably the best 20th-century novelist in the US
- Invisible Man is an Imagist Novel
- Anachronism in Invisible Man
