Like Michael Ray Charles, Ralph Ellison deals with black stereotypes in Invisible Man. The very title suggests that people don’t see the Invisible Man (he doesn’t have a proper name); instead they see only Black stereotypes.

The Lesson:

1. In Chapter 1, Ellison describes what is known as the “Battle Royal.” The image of blacks in this battle is based on a common stereotype.
   • Describe the stereotype.

     The black man is basically a fighting animal. He is lower in the evolutionary scale than whites. He is not fully human, closer to the apes.

   • Among the published works of Michael Ray Charles, do any of them use this stereotype? (See Bibliography for sources of images.)

     “Black Cats Go Off” 1994 (See Print, p. 68, # 5.)
     The Dawgboy, 1996 (See Print, p. 69, # 8.)
     Mixed Breed, 1997 (See Michael Ray Charles, Shafrazi Gallery, pp. 78-79)

2. In the factory hospital, Chapter 11, doctors administer electric shock treatments to the Invisible Man.

   “The machine droned, and I knew definitely that they were discussing me and steeled myself for the shocks, but was blasted nevertheless. The pulse came swift and staccato, increasing gradually until I fairly danced between the nodes…. An oily face looked in. ‘They really have rhythm don’t they?’”

   • Describe the stereotype of the relationship between blacks, rhythm, dance, and music.

     The common stereotype is that blacks have inborn rhythm that makes them natural dancers and musicians.

   • When the Invisible Man is subjected to electric shocks, he becomes like a dancing doll. This is another stereotype. By searching books used by collectors of black memorabilia, find an image of a black dancing doll. (See Bibliography.)
   • (An excellent opportunity to see stereotypical dancing blacks is in D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation. At the slightest provocation, child-like blacks hop about as though possessed.)

3. In Chapter 20, there is a startling scene in which one of the main characters defects from the civil rights organization he has worked for (we never know why), and begins selling Sambo dolls on a Harlem street corner. As he demonstrates how the doll works, he says:

   “Shake it up! Shake it up!
   He’s Sambo, the dancing doll, ladies and gentlemen.
   Shake him, stretch him by the neck and set him down,
   --He’ll do the rest. Yes!”

   • Describe the “dancing” doll, and tell how it works.

     “A grinning doll of orange-and-black tissue paper with thin flat cardboard disks forming its head and feet and which some mysterious mechanism was causing to move up and down in a lose-jointed, shoulder-shaking, infuriatingly sensuous motion….”

4. In Chapter 12, we meet Mary Rambo, something of a “mammy” figure.
   • Describe the characteristics of Mary Rambo that fit the “mammy” stereotype.

     Stable
     Caring
     Overweight
     Desexualized

   • How do the images of Michael Ray Charles differ from the typical “mammy” stereotype?

     In works like “Untitled” 1993 and “The Champ” 1993, Michael Ray Charles portrays Mammy as a kind of heroine. In “Untitled” a little white man begs for a piece of pie from a heroic Mammy. Her form is based on Norman Rockwell’s “Rosie the Riveter,” which in turn is based on a heroic figure by Michelangelo. (Both images are in Print, p. 67 and in other sources.)

5. As the Invisible Man is leaving Mary Rambo’s house, he makes a startling discovery:

   “Then near the door I saw something which I’d never noticed there before: the cast-iron figure of a very black red-lipped and wide-mouthed Negro, whose white eyes started up at me from the floor, his face an enormous grin, his single large black hand held palm up before his chest. It was a bank, a piece of early Americana, the kind of bank which, if a coin is placed in the hand and a lever pressed upon the back, will raise its arm and flip the coin into the grinning mouth.”

   In a fury, the Invisible Man breaks the bank.
   • The kind of bank described above was very popular in the 1940s and from time to time is still seen in antique stores and in black memorabilia collections. Find examples or pictures of the kind of bank described.
   • Michael Ray Charles is well aware of the bank the Invisible Man describes. Give the names of several of his works in which the image is also a bank.

     There are numerous examples in Michael Ray Charles, Shafrazi Gallery.

6. In Chapter 24, Ralph Ellison writes about a white woman named Sybil, and her fantasy of having sex with a black man. Her perception of the Invisible Man is based on a common stereotype.
   • What is the stereotype?

     The black man is overly sexual and is desired by white women to fulfill their sexual fantasies.

   • Find a quote in which Sybil clearly states her desires.

     “Come on, beat me, daddy-you-you big black bruiser.”

   • Give the title of a Michael Ray Charles painting that embodies the same stereotype.

     “(Forever Free) You Only Live Once” (See Michael Ray Charles, Shafrazi Gallery, p. 18.)

7. In what ways are Michael Ray Charles and Ralph Ellison alike?

   Both are committed to an instrumentalist aesthetic. They want to be instrumental in bringing about social change.
   Both deal with black stereotypes.
   Both believe that black stereotypes continue to influence both blacks and whites.

Things to Think About:

1. Compare the attitudes expressed by Zora Neale Hurston in Their Eyes Were Watching God with those of Ralph Ellison in Invisible Man on each of the following topics.
   • Desire for social change

     Hurston’s goal is not to bring about social change. Ellison’s is.

   • Kinds of suffering experienced by the main characters

     Janie in Eyes suffers because she doesn’t find self fulfillment with her first two men. She doesn’t suffer from black stereotypes.
     The Invisible Man suffers because he is invisible.

   • Ambition

     Janie is not ambitious. She wants to be loved and appreciated for herself, which to her is fulfillment.
     The Invisible Man is ambitious. He wants to be important in the community. It is black stereotypes that keeps him form doing so.

   • Divisions within the Black community

     Both authors stress the divisions in the black community. Hurston’s awareness is that blacks divide on the basis of color. Ellison’s awareness is that they divide on the basis of political power.

2. Ellison is a master at handling scenes involving large numbers of people. Chapter 25 is taken up with a description of a riot in Harlem. What are the things you learn about the riot in this chapter?

   Individual answers

3. What black stereotypes can you think of today?

   Gangstas
   Rappers
   Super athletes earning millions, especially basketball payers
   Black entertainers