“It is sometimes advantageous to be unseen, although it is most often rather wearing on the nerves.”
Prologue.
Invisible Man (1952)
Quotes from book
Invisible Man
Invisible Man is a novel by Ralph Ellison, published by Random House in 1952. It addresses many of the social and intellectual issues facing African Americans early in the twentieth century, including black nationalism, the relationship between black identity and Marxism, and the reformist racial policies of Booker T. Washington, as well as issues of individuality and personal identity.
Prologue (opening paragraph of novel).
Invisible Man (1952)
“Had the price of looking been blindness, I would have looked.”
Source: Invisible Man (1952), Chapter 1.
Source: Invisible Man (1952), Chapter 5.
“But we are all human, I thought, wondering what I meant.”
Source: Invisible Man (1952), Chapter 11.
Source: Invisible Man (1952), Chapter 5.
Source: Invisible Man (1952), Chapter 1.
Context: I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy’s country ever since I give up my gun back in the Reconstruction. Live with your head in the lion’s mouth. I want you to overcome ‘em with yeses, undermine ‘em with grins, agree ‘em to death and destruction, let ‘em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open...
“Responsibility rests upon recognition, and recognition is a form of agreement.”
Prologue.
Invisible Man (1952)
Context: I am one of the most irresponsible beings that ever lived. Irresponsibility is part of my invisibility; any way you face it, it is a denial. But to whom can I be responsible, and why should I be, when you refuse to see me? And wait until I reveal how truly irresponsible I am. Responsibility rests upon recognition, and recognition is a form of agreement.
