Is the mood at the end of the novel hopeful or defeated? Explain your answer.
The end of this novel to me seemed to be a little of both because of his phrase he states," The ending was the beginning.". He felt defeated because he could not return to any of his old life because he was invisible to all during his old life. Now he had an ending to this old life, which now gives him an opportunity to restart and live a new and better life. He would move on and live this new life, which is sort of a symbol of hope for him. He was defeated in his old life by chaos created by everyone else, so now he believes he should start a new living as his own idividual nobody else's to control. So I guess I would say he leaves us with a hopeful tone at the end with a lesson. With every ending comes a new beginning. In other words the end of this book is his new beginning to be created by his choosing and nobody else's but his.
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Clara Grace
8/11/2012 01:04:45 am
Is he really defeated for him being invisible? Sometimes, the best choice to make is to do nothing. I agree with the part of the hopefulness. Yet he still seems unhappy with the way his life has turned out. I think that Ellison left us hanging at the end because he planned on writing a sequel book, but never succeeded in doing so. Let me know what you think!
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Angela Hatchel
8/10/2012 02:32:58 am
Whew! Finally done with this book. I have to say, there were interesting and boring parts in this book but I completely enjoyed reading this novel. It was interesting to me :) Now back to the literary discussion.
I think the mood at the end of the novel is both hopeful and defeated. Hopeful because I think the narrator finally realized himself. "It was as though I'd learned suddenly to look around corners; images of past humiliations flickered through my head and I saw that they were more than separate experiences. They were me; they defined me. I was my experiences and my experiences were me, and no blind men, no matter how poweful they became, even if they conquered the world, could take that, or change one single itch, taunt, laugh, cry, scar, ache, rage, or pain of it. (pg. 508) He also realizes that he was a "tool" for the brotherhood as well. "The committee had planned it. And I had helped, had been a tool. A tool just at the very moment I had thought myself free." (pg. 553) "And I had been used as a tool." (pg. 564) Now I think of the narrator's realization of this as a positive thing because he now knows that he was not an independent man while in the Brotherhood. He can now change that and work on himself by not letting the Brotherhood control him so much, using him like a "tool."
Now the mood is sort of defeated at the end of the novel as well. "And now I realized that I couldn't return to Mary's, or to any part of my old life. I could approach it only from the outside, and I had been as invisible to Mary as I had been to the Brotherhood. No, I couldn't return to Mary's, or to campus, or to the Brotherhood, or home." (pg. 571) The narrator realizes that he can't return to his old life. Now this may be a defeated mood for him because he may want to visit these places again but he knows that to become "visible" he cannot visit these places again.
Now at the time that he realizes that he can't visit his past again, the narrator also realizes something else. "I could only move ahead or stay here, underground. So I would stay here until I was chased out. Here, at least, I could try to think things out in peace, or if not in peace, in quiet. I would take up residence underground. The end was in the beginning." (pg. 571) He realizes that he needs to move on and continue a brand new life for himself.
The narrator also realizes that, "my problem was that I always tried to go in everyone's way but my own. I have also been called one thing and then another while no one really wished to hear what I called myself. So after years of trying to adopt the opinions of others I finally rebelled. I am an invisible man. Thus I have come a long way and returned and boomeragned a long way from the point in society toward which I originally aspired." (pg. 573) This is something hopeful to me because the narrator has progressed since we last read about him in the beginning of the novel. He is a changed man.
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Laurel Bell
8/10/2012 11:59:40 pm
Is the mood at the end of the novel hopeful or defeated? Explain your answer.
Definately both! The narrator finally woke up and smelt the coffee. And I must say, it was about time! He "could see it now, see it clearly and in growing magnitude." (pg. 544) He "had been a tool" (pg. 544) his entire life. Bledsoe, Norton, Jack, and the Brotherhood had used him for their own personl plans. They never had any intentions of seeing him gain his independence or develop his own ideas and opinions. Why should they, he was invisible in their eyes.
However, after coming to the realization that he had constantly bowed down to the will of others, he discovered there was a light at the end of the tunnel. He could start fresh. His world had "become one of infinite possibilities" (pg.567), and there was no turning back. He "could only move ahead." (pg. 562) For the first time, HE was in charge of his life. Our humble narrator was finally free to express himself! And all it took was getting beat up in a boxing ring, being expelled from college, moving to an unknown city, undergoing a traumatic accident in a paint factory, joining a supposed brotherhood, and falling into a deep manhole filled with coal.
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DaValyee' McGee
8/11/2012 12:50:09 am
I'm definitely vouching for "both" as well!:) I think the narrator definitely felt defeated when it boiled down to the truth. I could imagine how disappointed he was with society, and especially with himself. for being dependent on social expectations and letting everyone but himself live his life. Whether that through, ideological means, social responsibilities, or higher roles in society. our narrator was "crutching"---so to say, on things that he thought were the answers to his promblems as well as societies. "And my problem was that I always tried to go in everyone's way but my own, (564).
Mainly at the end in the epilogue, our narrator talks about his problems, his stand points, and his solutions. "And as I said before, a decision has been made. I'm shaking off the old skin and I'll leave it here in the hole. I'm coming out nevertheless. And I suppose it's damn well time," (572). The mood here just mainly makes us readers feel hopeful for what's later down the line for our narrator. It also gives us hope that our narrator will feel no longer unsure or skeptical about himself, but confident, no longer invisible, but seen within himself as well seen by others, and no longer captive but free:)!
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DaValyee' McGee
8/11/2012 12:51:45 am
Is the mood at the end of the novel hopeful or defeated? Explain your answer.
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Clara Grace
8/11/2012 12:56:37 am
Is the mood at the end of the novel hopeful or defeated? Explain your answer.
Tell me, who am I to judge whether this invisible man is hopeful or defeated. He is accepting and that is the best answer I can give you. He accepts his place in society, “to live without direction.” He chooses to “denounce, and defend, and hate, and love.” He accepts his invisibility, and he accepts that we will “fail to see how any principle that applies to ‘us’ could apply to [him.] We will “fail to see it even though death waits for both of us if [we] don’t.”
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Jacora Smart
8/14/2012 09:31:00 am
Your brain is awesome. Seriously. Your alternate view of the ending does make you ponder. I totally agree about him accepting his life now and how it developed. It seems to me that he seems a little relieved now. He doesn't have the pressure of Bledsoes, Nortons, Emersons, or Jacks in his life anymore. He can just be himself and keep to himself. That's the new man he was meant to be.
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Alli Cook
8/11/2012 07:27:22 am
Is the mood at the end of the novel hopeful or defeated? Explain your answer. It seems to me that it could be both. It could be hopeful, because they, meaning African Americans, have finally revolted and broke free. (Ch. 25) They have said it's their time and they are tired of being held back, i guess you could say. Also, the narrator has realized that he can not hold on to his past. I realized this when he burned everything he kept in his briefcase. (ch. 25, pg. 567)
However, it could be defeated, because the narrator is invisible now and trying to bring everyone together is over. The narrator has disappeared and Ras has finally taken over.
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Jacora Smart
8/12/2012 12:28:39 pm
Is the mood at the end of the novel hopeful or defeated? Explain your answer.
Honestly, I don't think he is either hopeful nor defeated. He isn't down in the dumps, and he isn't spewing rainbows either. He's just content with who he is now. And that is completely okay with him. I also think that his true transformation is finally complete. I mean he had to fall through a pot hole to get to that point, but hey, at least he got there. I also found out that my earlier predictions about the narrator's doubts were true. He was blind throughout his whole journey, but the veil was lifted. He mentions this realiztion when he says that "(He) (came) a long way from those days when, full of illusion, (he) lived a public life and attempted to function under the assummption that the world was solid and all the relationships therein." (pg. 578) So if you think about it, this whole time he experienced a dream, then afterwards endured a nightmare, and at the end he finally woke up from it all. Now that he's invisible, and now that he's awaken to his new reality, he is comfortable with it; end of story. (Pun was most definitely intended.)
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Laurel Bell
8/14/2012 08:21:40 am
You just made me smile. :) I have never heard "He isn't spewing rainbows" before! That is definately one I'll have to remember.Anywho... now that you mention it, I can see how he isn't hopeful or defeated. He's just kind of content sitting in the dark underground tunnel filled with coal. And I agree. I think his transformation is FINALLY complete! It took him long enough. I just wish Ellison would have ended the novel differently. He should have told us more about what the narrator did with his life.
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Jacora Smart
8/14/2012 09:27:14 am
Little Laurel! I'm glad you saw how I viewed the ending. I wished we could see how the narrator spent the rest of his life, too. That'd probably be a whole other book, though. :)