Ralph Ellison's impassioned first novel, winner of the prestigious American National Book Award, tells the story of an invisible man simply because people refuse to see me . Yet his powerfully depicted adventures go far beyond the story of one man.
A novel about black lives in 1940s America, in which the unnamed narrator, defeated and embittered by a country which treats him as non-being, retreats into an underground cell, where he smokes, drinks, listens to jazz and recounts his search for identity in white society.
Features explanations of themes, motifs, and symbols, analyses of characters and quotes, plot summaries and analysis, an exploration of historical context, and facts and potential essay topics.