Abstract: Invisible man is the only saga novel of Ralph Ellison, who obtains the first hand materials from the lives of the blacks. By describing the suffering experiences of a poor boy from south to explore the hardships when the black seek for their freedom and ego identity in a white dominated American society. The paper takes the view of the post-colonialism, such as Fanon’s view of race and identity, Said’ s notion of “the Other” and Homi Bhabha’s “Third Space” as theoretical basis to parse the work and analyse the root of the hero status changes, namely “invisible” post-colonial exploitation. On the basis of above theories, the paper emphasizes the means of getting rid of racial discrimination, identity as “the other”, which have a positive significance in America, China and even the national integration and harmony in today’s world.
Key word: post-colonialism; individual identity; racism; the other; third space
Contents
Abstract
中文摘要
1. Introduction-1
1.1 Invisible man-1
1.2 Post-colonialism Theory-2
1.3 Literature Review-4
2. Searching for Individual Identity-5
2.1 Life Experiences with Different Identities-5
2.2 Psychological Experience in Searching for Identity-9
3. The Reasons for Various Identities-16
3.1 Main Predicament – Racism-16
3.2 Identity as “the other”-17
3.3 Uncertain Identity in the Third Space-19
4. Conclusion-20
References-22
