Self-study
P1
Published in 1952, Invisible Man featured a protagonist whose activities enabled the novel's author, Ralph Ellison, to explore and to blend themes specifically tied to the history and plight of African Americans with themes, also explored by many European writers with whose works Ellison was familiar, about the fractured, evanescent quality of individual identity and character. ███
Intro topic ·
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
Novel blended themes tied to African American experience with themes about individual identity, which were explored by European writers.
Other people's perspective ·
Two related criticisms of Invisible Man
It wasn't political enough, and didn't contribute to a distinct African American style.
P2
███████ █████ █████ ██████████ ██ █████ █ ██████ ███████ ██████ ████ ███████ ██████ ██████ ██████████ ███ █████████ █████ █████████████ ███ ██████████ ████ █████████ █████████ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ███████ █ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ █ ██████████ ██████████ █████████ ████████
Ellison's response ·
The two criticisms make unwarranted assumptions
They assume that some historical circumstances require cultural segregation in the arts, that artists can't see world in unique ways, and that readers can only see the world from their own perspectives.
P3
██████ ███ █████████████ █████████ ███ ████ ███ ██ ██ ████ ████ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ██ █████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ███████████ ██ █████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ███████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ █████████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ███████████████████ █████ ██ ████ ███████ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ████████ ██ ████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ███ ████ ██████████████ ██ ████████ ████████ █████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ████████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ██ ██████████ ████████ ████████
Perspective ·
Jazz music is a better model for understanding Invisible Man
Jazz musicians can play music influenced by Europe, but that explore African American themes.
P4
████████ █████ █████████ █████ █████ ███████ ███████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ████████ ████████ █ ████ █████ ███ █████████████ ███ ████████████ ██ ██████ ██ █████████ ███ █████████ ███ ████ ███ █████████████ █████ ██ █████████ ███ ██ ███ ██████ █ █████ ████████ ████████ █████████ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ███████ ████████ ████████████ ███ █ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████ ███████ ███ ████████████ ███ ████ ██████ █████████ █████ ███████████ █████ █████ ██ █ █████████ ███████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████████ █████ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██ █ ████████ ███████████ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ ███ ███ ████ ███ ██████████
Additional benefit of jazz model ·
Individual's relationship to community
Jazz solos involve individualistic playing rooted in broader context of the band. That relationship is like the one between Invisible Man's protagonist and the wider context of community.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Spotlight
16.
The expression "
a
a general tendency ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ████████
This doesn’t fit, because the critics never called on Ellison to use certain images and themes in his work. They wanted his work to be directed to political action and to use European literary modes less, but this doesn’t imply they wanted certain recurring images and themes to be used.
b
an obvious separation ██████ ███ ███ █████████ █████████ ████ ████████ █████████ █████████ ██████████
This doesn’t fit, because the critics never called on Ellison to separate himself from others in the artistic community with different aesthetic principles. Remember, the phrase “cultural segregation in the arts” is Ellison’s characterization of what the critics wanted — so the correct answer should map onto something the critics wanted Ellison to do.
c
the cultural isolation ███████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████████
This doesn’t fit, because the critics never called on Ellison to feel culturally isolated by addressing issues of individual identity. Remember, the phrase “cultural segregation in the arts” is Ellison’s characterization of what the critics wanted — so the correct answer should map onto something the critics wanted Ellison to do. They didn’t want him to address issues of individual identity.
d
the cultural obstacles ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████████████ ██ ███
This doesn’t fit, because the critics never suggested that the era required obstacles that affect audience’s appreciation of art. Remember, the phrase “cultural segregation in the arts” is Ellison’s characterization of what the critics wanted — so the correct answer should map onto something the critics wanted Ellison to do.
e
an expectation placed ██ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ █ ████████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███
This is the best answer. The critics wanted Ellison to direct his art toward action that might address the injustices of his time, and to help develop a distinctly African American novelistic style. Ellison viewed this as an expectation that his art, because of the particular historical situation of the time, be directed toward certain cultural agendas (correcting injustice and creating an African-American novelistic style).