Women as Depicted in Invisible Man
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, similar to Native Son by Richard Wright, displays a concerning portrayal of women. In Native Son, the majority of the female characters, including by not limited to, Bessie, Mary, and Bigger’s mother and sister, were either raped, killed, or treated horribly by Bigger (or a combination of the three). Whether this was done intentionally by Wright remains to be seen, however, Ellison seems to incorporate similar characterizations within the females in his novel, who are depicted either as incredibly dominant and crazy or completely submissive and without autonomy.
We are introduced to the first female character in the novel, during the battle royale scene, as a woman is paraded around as entertainment for a male-dominated audience. Through her behavior, the woman is depicted as being forced into this role, which the Narrator seems to relate to his own situation “above her red, fixed-smiling I saw the terror and disgust in her eyes, almost like my own terror and that which I saw in some of the other boys” (Ellison, 20). In this scene, the only female character presented, is depicted as without free will, valued only for her body, and at the complete control of the men in her surroundings.
The second time a female character is introduced occurs during the scene in which the Narrator and Mr. Norton meet Jim Trueblood. Here, they listen to Trueblood as he recounts raping and impregnating his daughter, Matty Lou. Trueblood describes Matty Lou as severely impacted by his actions, “lookin’ straight in Matty Lou’s face and she’s beatin’ me and scatchin’ and tremblin’ and shakin’ and crying all at the same time like she’s havin’ a fit” (Ellison 59). Once again, a female character has been forced to do something against her will, in this case at the hands of her own father. On the flip side, Trueblood also discusses his wife, Kate, describing her reaction to the rape of Matty Lou, in an understandably outraged manner, “Somethin’ cold and strong-stinkin’ hits me and wets me and bangs against my head. Somethin’ hits the wall—boom-a-loom-a-loom!—like a cannon ball, and I tries to cover up my head. Kate’s takin’ the unknown tongue, like a wild woman” (Ellison 61). Here, despite having a completely warranted response to Trueblood’s actions, and serving as so far, the only assertive female character in the novel, Kate’s character is diminished under the guise of being a “wild woman.”
Throughout Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, a clear theme can be sensed regarding the depiction of female characters. Portrayed as either submissive and forced against their will, or dominating and crazy, the women in this novel are not done justice, and serve only as a vessel for the men in their surroundings. Like in Native Son by Richard Wright, I wish the experiences of the females in the novel could have been explored further, in order to provide a more nuanced depiction of systemic racism and oppression.
I'm really glad that you chose to talk about this in your blog post as I think it's a really important theme we've been seeing throughout this semester. I agree that all, or almost all, of the female characters we've seen this semester, are really one-sided and really only exist for the benefit of the men. I'm really hoping that we get to read some books that have realistic female characters.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really great post Mariam! I covered the same topic in my blog post, so I agree with everything you are saying here. Both Ellison and Wright's depiction of the women in their novels are very disgusting and dehumanizing. Common themes, like you pointed out in your writing, are displayed throughout both novels. Being that women are on two polar opposite sides of a spectrum and regardless of what end they are on, they have no autonomy or depth as a character. In all of this, I wonder if Ellison drew inspiration from Wright's writing?
ReplyDeleteI posted about this on my own blog, which I don't know if anyone ever reads that, but I focused on the woman in chapter 1 and that fleeting moment where she makes eye contact with the narrator: it's such a good opportunity for Ellison to explore some intersectional common cause between the black man and the white woman, both of whose bodies and identities are exploited by the "important" white men of the town. The novel does depict her as literally "manhandled" by the crowd, and it would be easy to view this as one other aspect of the surreal degree of oppression being reflected throughout that scene. But Ellison misses the opportunity entirely, one more issue that the narrator shrugs off, eager to get back to the business of pleasing this crowd that hates him.
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