IM_Abstract

//I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids—and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. // //-- Prologue, ////Invisible Man {1} // **__ Invisible Man __**, by Ralph Ellison, was one of the most influential American novels of the post-World War II period; about an idealistic young Negro, dutifully hoping to become a "credit to his race"; a naïve error leads to his expulsion and he makes his way to Harlem; there, he experiences a series of bizarre adventures which finally leave him with the realization that he is in fact faceless to others, rendered invisible by his race and historical circumstances.  The political, social, and economic elements of the Great Depression in the 1930s and the hardships endured during that time are portrayed throughout the novel through the behavior, actions, and setting of the characters and novel. __LIFE IN THE DEPRESSION __ The Great Depression was difficult for the people who lived during the time. It began at the end of the 1920’s, when a third of the United States' population was unemployed, and many of the employed were working at a salary below the cost of living. There was an expansion between the people who had and those who did not have much. Rural America suffered the greatest during this time. As unemployment spiraled, a new person was elected to office. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's plan to turn around the American economy was known as the New Deal. He blamed the excesses of big business for causing an unstable bubble-like economy. **[2]** Democrats believed the problem was that business had too much power, and the New Deal was intended as a remedy, by empowering labor unions and farmers and by raising taxes on corporate profits. Millions of Americans suffered from a disease caused by malnutrition. People lost their homes because they didn't have enough money to pay their mortgage.In 1932, at least 200,000 young people and 25,000 families roamed through the country looking for food, clothing, shelter, and a job. **[3]**    <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">While the New Deal programs tended to exclude blacks, many social barriers were broken down. Depression acted as a great equalizer. The African American people were joined by the non- working whites at the bottom of social rank due to deflation. <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Hard times had come to people throughout the country, especially rural blacks. **{5]**Cotton prices plunged from eighteen to six cents a pound. Two thirds of some two million black farmers earned nothing or went into debt. Hundreds of thousands of sharecroppers left the land for the cities, leaving behind abandoned fields and homes. Even "Negro jobs" -- jobs traditionally held by blacks, such as busboys, elevator operators, garbage men, porters, maids, and cooks -- were sought by desperate unemployed whites. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">



RACISM <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> v  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">The reduction in the number of positions during the Great Depression hit all workers hard, and the advancement of unemployment lead white labor unions to blame other races of holding jobs that should be set aside for white workers to support white families and communities. African Americans were the poorest of the poor and the first ones to feel the effects of hard times. They were given the worst jobs, the least amount of pay, and they were the first to be fired after the stock market crash. **[3]** <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> v  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">AAA and the Social Security Act, often provided little or no help for African Americans. This organization, for the most part, did nothing to improve conditions for minorities. Additionally, most government agencies refused to hire African Americans while giving jobs during the depression. Those that did give them jobs, such as the Armed Forces, kept blacks and whites segregated. **[4]** <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> v  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Blacks suffered social persecution as well. During the depression, the number of lynchings and other racial mob assaults amplified dramatically. Organizations such as the KKK burned African-American homes and murdered or assaulted men, women, and children ritualistically. African Americans were required to tolerate such treatment, however, because they had no way to defend themselves. <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"> //"I didn't understand in those pre-invisible days that their hate, and mine too, was charged with fear....We were trying to lift them up and they, like Trueblood, did everything it seemed to pull us down"// (pg 47). **(1)** Because blacks were judged as a whole group and not as individuals, hatred grew between those closer to the image of the white man and those farther away.

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> v  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Oakland's black population suffered from racist attacks by white labor unions, but there was often not a sufficient enough group of blacks in any occupation to focus white racist hostility. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">The African Americans who came to Nebraska were part of a ongoing migration that left the unemployment, racism, and poverty of the rural South, seeking opportunity in the North. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings">v <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">One of the main reasons that African Americans received such treatment had to do with the fact that they had no voice in government. This was the result that, although the majority of African Americans still abided in the South during this era, they were unable to exercise their rights because of prejudice. <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> v  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Roosevelt did not intervene since he was afraid of losing southern, white support. He gave into their confrontation to equality. In addition, he offered no civil rights program and did little to face up to the issue of segregation. <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> v <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">President Roosevelt, appointed more African Americans to government posts than any other president preceding him. For example, he appointed Mary McLeod Bethune to be Director of the Negro Affairs Division of the National Youth Administration. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 22pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Planet Benson 2'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">__Labor Unions__

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">In the early 1930s, as the nation fell toward the pits of depression, the potential of organized labor seemed dreary. The number of labor union members was around 3 million, contrast to 5 million a decade before. Most belonged to capable craft unions, most of which were affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. **(8)** <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The remarkable gains labor unions experienced in the 1930s resulted, in part, from the pro-union stance of the Roosevelt administration and from legislation enacted by Congress during the early New Deal. The National Industrial Recovery Act provided for collective bargaining. Meanwhile the National Labor Relations Act required businesses to bargain in good faith with any union supported by the majority of their employees. <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Invisible Man goes to work in the Liberty Paint factory. He tells Mr. MacDuffy, the boss, that Emerson sent him. MacDuffy sends him to work for Kimbro. Invisible Man gets in trouble for ruining several cans of paint with the thinner, so he is allowed to finish the work and then is transferred. He is transferred to work in the engine room with an old man named Lucius Brockway, who has worked there since the plant was built. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">The factory seems to be a microcosm for America. It has all aspects of life within it, from work to a hospital. Invisible Man even describes it as a small city. The name Liberty Paint puts a facade of freedom on the factory, yet those inside are nearly enslaved with work, much like America of the time. The factory also has social classes: the management, the union workers, and those opposed to unions. <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">At Liberty Paints an office boy tells the invisible man, **"The wise guys firing the regular guys and putting on you colored college boys. Pretty smart. That way they don't have to pay union wages." And when Lucius Brockway mistakenly thinks the invisible man has gone to a labor meeting, he fairly explodes. "'That damn union,' he cried, almost in tears. 'That damn union! They after my job! For one of us to join one of them damn unions is like we was to bite the hand of the man who teached us to bathe in the bathtub!'" (1)** <span style="FONT-SIZE: 36pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-themecolor: text1"> · <span style="FONT-SIZE: 36pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Carbon Block'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1">Relationship of the Great Depression to   <span style="FONT-SIZE: 36pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Carbon Block'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1">__The Invisible Man__

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-themecolor: text1">
<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-themecolor: text1">During the Great Depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s, the one thing that every American had in common was the fact that each was being pushed out of everything. It began with the crash of 1929 when people were uprooted from their jobs and left to make a living unemployed. As a result of men and women's losing their jobs, they were left with no money to make house payments and were then evicted from their own homes. As Roosevelt's New Deal was set into action, relief efforts for the jobless and homeless began. Although the situation was looking promising, it was not quite perfect either. There were centers in almost every community that gave out food and shelter for those who had none, but even these relief centers evicted people after the second or third day, causing them to be back out on the street. Since the care centers did not provide enough help, many resorted to train hopping. They would "stow away" on trains, and live there for days, sometimes months. Eventually, this even became impossible. Health risks became apparent as transients passed diseases to passengers and also injured themselves getting on and off the trains. Conductors began booting vagrants from trains, leaving people stranded, once again, with no place to run to. In 1932, fifty-four men resorted to sleeping in a subway station because they had been evicted from their homes. The men were promptly arrested, but jail was better for them than no place at all. In Chicago a year earlier, women were booted from a woman's center (because of overcrowding) and forced to find another place to sleep. They chose Grant and Lincoln Parks in Chicago and were also arrested. Until 1933, blacks were even excluded from relief efforts. Everyone was being excluded or evicted from something. **<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">(6) **

<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1">
//<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1">In //__<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1">The //<span style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Invisible Man // __//<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1">, there is a constant theme of expulsion as well. The narrator, Invisible Man, is kicked out of everything. He is first sent away from home to go to school, which he is later expelled from. When he takes a guest of the school, a rich white man, to a whorehouse/bar, the Golden Day, for some whiskey, he is even removed from there when the scene gets too wild. After he is expelled from the college, he is sent to several different places to find a job and is turned down by all of them. When he finally gets a job working with "Liberty Paints," he is removed when he becomes injured in an accident at the factory. He undergoes electric shock therapy following his injury and becomes a new man. He moves in with a woman, Mary, who takes care of him until he is offered a job as a member of the Brotherhood, and the leader, Brother Jack, forces Invisible Man to leave the safety of Mary's home. Later, as he is looking for a friend of his, he walks into a bar but is mistaken for someone else. Someone starts a fight with Invisible Man (or actually starts a fight with the man he is mistaken for), and the bartender asks Invisible Man to leave. Finally, Invisible Man is nearly removed from the Brotherhood itself for disloyalty. (**1)** // __Social Aspects__ **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 17pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 48pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Kristen ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-themecolor: text1">

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> ·  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">The Depression was largely caused by speculation in the stock market. Other factors included overproduction, under consumption, a lingering agricultural slump, and an uneven distribution of wealth. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">The Depression was characterized by unemployment and scarce living conditions. Millions of workers were unemployed, and those who sustained to hold a job, faced lower wages and shorter hours. Families without an income, who could not pay their rent, were evicted from their homes. Left unemployed and homeless, these people built shacks out of cardboard and other trash. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> **(10)** <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> ·  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">These are the conditions that Invisible Man grows up in. He is from a poor family in the South and is born in the early Thirties. From his childhood, he remembers events which show the effect of the Depression on his family such as eating boiled cabbage day after day when they were without money. Years later, after World War II, Invisible Man will remember this from his past and realize that many people are still being affected by the Depression. **(1)** <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> ·  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Invisible Man is asked to join a Civil Rights organization, the Brotherhood, after he makes an unexpected speech at an eviction. He originally refuses and returns to Mary's house only to find the smell of cabbage. As he thinks of how much he dislikes the smell of cabbage, he remembers the days when his family could only afford cabbage for days at a time during his childhood. Suddenly, he realizes that they have eaten cabbage quite frequently lately and that he has not been able to pay Mary his rent for quite a while. That is when he realizes the situation that Mary is in and knows that he must accept the job with the Brotherhood. **(1)** <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol"> ·  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">The scene when Invisible Man makes an unexpected speech at an eviction is also symbolic of the Depression. The people who could not afford to pay rent were simply kicked out of their home one day. All of their belongs were left on the street, and it was up to those evicted to determine what to do and where to go. This was a fear that many people were forced to face and a practice that resulted in numerous Americans losing their homes. In the novel, the couple evicted is very old and simply wants to be allowed back in their house one final time to pray. They have accepted the fact that they are being forced to leave because they know that it has happened to others and that it will continue to happen to more people who cannot pay their rent. **(1)** <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
 * //<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">"'They're my birthmark,' I said. 'I yam what I am!'"(266) //**
 * //<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Invisible Man makes this statement to the yam vendor while asking for more yams. This quotation shows Invisible Man's realization of his self identity. //**<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"> **(1)** <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
 * //<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">'That's a good word, "Dispossessed"! "Dispossessed," eighty-seven years and dispossessed of what? They ain't got nothing, they caint get nothing, they never had nothing. So who was dispossessed?' I growled" (279). //****//This excerpt is from the most profound section of Invisible Man's speech where he symbolizes the elderly couple as all of the Negroes. The dispossession that occurs there in Harlem is no different from the dispossession of the Negro race as a whole. (1)//**

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol"> ·  //<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">Although the elderly couple believes that nothing can be done to stop evictions, the Brotherhood disagrees. The Brotherhood is a Communist organization, similar to some of the ones prevalent during the 1930s. The party faces stiff competition from several other parties in the area. The result is the occurrence of race riots and other methods of expression. The people participating in these types of demonstrations were simply those who were lost in the Depression and were trying to find a way out. They were looking to improve their life and living conditions. They hoped that the organization would serve as a mean for changing their lives. //<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"> (1) <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol"> **//<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol">"'Yes, of course. And you made an effective speech. But you mustn't waste your emotions on individuals, they don't count"' (291). //**<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol"> **//<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol">This quotation comes from Brother Jack in his conversation with Invisible Man. This quotation basically summarizes the Brotherhood's ideology. They believe in working for rights, but only to advance the "movement" and not to assist individuals in need. (1) //**<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"> __Political Aspects__ <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-themecolor: text1">When Invisible Man is injured in the explosion at the paint plant, he is taken to a hospital where doctors try to cure him. These doctors may be seen as figures representing President Hoover when he tried to cure the depression in America. The doctors try to do what they feel is best by giving him electroshock therapy, but this ends up confusing, not helping, Invisible Man. While in the care of the doctors, Invisible Man looks to them for help because that is what they are supposed to do. The doctors use the wrong treatment for him, though, and they create a feeling of turmoil and helplessness for the Invisible Man when he is in the glass box. (1)
 * <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-themecolor: text1">The Great Depression had a big impact on all people living in America, but the Depression was especially hard on Black Americans. Fifty percent of the Negro population in the United States was unemployed. This started a massive migration of Negroes to the north. Invisible Man is a part of this migration and travels to Harlem, the largest black community in the United States. The migration of blacks to the north upset the whites there, who believed that Negroes were stealing their jobs, and the lynching of blacks became a very common practice. There was also a large growth in the Ku Klux Klan during the Depression. Because of the outcry of white citizens, Negroes were not treated equally in the work force. They had lower wages and were excluded from unions. Employers did not like unions, and blacks were hired in factories as "scabs" to replace white workers on strike. The Invisible Man comes to realize this when, while working at a paint factory, he accidentally enters a union meeting and is nearly attacked by the union members. A big scene in the novel occurs when an old couple is evicted from their apartment. Evictions were very common during the Depression and caused many uprisings in the black community. The Communists started an anti-eviction movement and would help victims of evictions move their belongings and furniture back into the houses. Although it offered little help to most Negroes, some saw hope in Roosevelt's New Deal. **(11)

As he leaves he addresses his new mind set, "I was no longer afraid. Not of important men, not of trustees and such" (249). (1) While in the box, Invisible Man cannot recall his past, "I realized that I no longer knew my own name" (239). //**<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-themecolor: text1"> (1)
 * //<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Following his stay at the hospital, Invisible Man remarks, "...my mind and I--were no longer getting around in the same circles" (250). (1)

<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-themecolor: text1">He is confused and shocked, literally, about his situation, and the doctors seemed to have made his condition worse. This is what Hoover did for America when he tried to ease the depression in the U.S. He tried to cure it, but he used the wrong tactics and ended up not helping the country at all, if not causing more problems. Americans felt helpless, confused, and in the middle of a chaos that consumed them entirely. This is exactly how Invisible Man feels while he is in the glass box at the factory hospital. Mary Rambo comes along then, and she takes Invisible Man in and cares for him. She serves as a figure of hope and security for Invisible Man. She comes to his aid when he most desperately needs help and insists that he let her help him. She may represent President Roosevelt when he aggressively fought and pulled America from the depression. Roosevelt was a figure of hope and strength for America during the Depression, just as Mary was for Invisible Man.
 * //<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">"They got all this machinery, but that ain't everything; we are the machines inside the machine" (217). //****//<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">This is a basically a summary of the machine motif. It says that the poor black workers are the ones that allow everything to run as it does. (1) //**
 * //<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">"If you're white, you're right" (218). (1) //**
 * //<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">This quotation is representative of the black view of the white society of the time. //**

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 24pt; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">
 * __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 40pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Kristen ITC'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-themecolor: text1">Economical Aspects __**<span style="FONT-SIZE: 40pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 40pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">

ü  **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 24pt; FONT-FAMILY: Mufferaw; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">The New Deal ** <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The economic situation next went into the hands of one of America's best Presidents, President Roosevelt. Roosevelt created the New Deal and the First 100 Days within the New Deal. Through fireside chats, Roosevelt promised a better economy, way of life, and overall moral feeling. Through use of the New Deal, Roosevelt created many social and economical policies that would help the economy. Through this method, Roosevelt put the government to work for the people. He truly wanted the plight of the American people to fare better than before. With government interaction, there was a restoration and increase in purchasing power. (12) <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-no-proof: yes">- <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 24pt; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"> ü  **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 24pt; FONT-FAMILY: Mufferaw; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">The Works Progress Administration ** <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">One of the many institutions set up under the Roosevelt presidency was the Works Progress Administration. The economy benefited from the organization because unemployment benefits had started, the bill on social security had passed, and the minimum wage law was put into effect. Roosevelt believed in balancing the budget as did Hoover; however, he wanted to strengthen the economy by strengthening the people first. (5) <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-no-proof: yes">- <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 24pt; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"> ü  **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 24pt; FONT-FAMILY: Mufferaw; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">The Importance of Cabbage ** <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Growing up in the depression, Invisible Man constantly lives with the smell of cabbage. The cabbage that Invisible Man smells at Mary's house is the same smell at his house during his childhood. The cabbage represents the exact economy of the country. Many had to constantly cook cabbage as it was the cheapest food to consume. Days of just cabbage would represent a shortage of money, and hard times. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Cabbages are another type of status indicator. Cabbages are a symbol of how poor Mary Rambo is the fact she has to boil cabbages in order to feed herself and her family members. This use of cabbages has appeared in other works also, for instance, George Orwell's //<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">1984 //. (1) <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-no-proof: yes">- <span style="FONT-SIZE: 24pt; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"> ü  **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 24pt; FONT-FAMILY: Mufferaw; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">The Importance of Yams ** <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The yams that Invisible Man wants is a reminder of the south, a south hurt by depression almost before the depression began. The effects had been terrible even after the depression was over. People, blacks and whites, went to the north where they thought they could have a better life. From the North came many whites to help free the blacks and secure the unstable infrastructure of the South. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">He sees a vendor selling yams, of which he buys two. Because he no longer cares for what the people think, he eats this yam in full view of anybody on the street at this hour. This is in stark contrast to his refusal to eat grits at the diner when he arrives at the city, lest anybody find out he is from the south. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"> //**<span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">"'They're my birthmark,' I said. 'I yam what I am!'"(266) <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Invisible Man makes this statement to the yam vendor while asking for more yams. This quotation shows Invisible Man's realization of his self identity. **//<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"> **(1)** <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 24pt; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"> ü <span style="FONT-SIZE: 24pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Mufferaw; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">Communism Communism became popular among many as a means of getting out of the depression era and into one where the economy would become stable. Mainly politicians were the ones to disrespect the communist cause as they knew the goals and ambitions of communism. (10) <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-no-proof: yes">-- <span style="FONT-SIZE: 24pt; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"> ü  **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 24pt; FONT-FAMILY: Mufferaw; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">The Black Economy  ** <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Blacks in the north, in particular Harlem, did not own many businesses. Although they congregated around major areas, they could not stabilize their own economy. In a fit of anger, Ras tells his people not to listen to Invisible Man who wants to work with the white man because it is the same white man that took their business away. Blacks found themselves without jobs or without business in their place of work. The black economy was nonexistent, and this led to the black power movement in both the 1950s and 1960s. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">(7) “**American President: Biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.”** © 2008 Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. 2 March 2008. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/fdroosevelt/essays/biography/print <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">(1)Ellison, Ralph. **__Invisible Man__.** New York: Random House Inc., 1952. <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1">(10) **“Great Depression.”**2 March 2008 <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/542.html <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">(2)**”Great Depression in the United States.”** <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Wikipedia. 2 March 2008 <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression_in_the_United_States <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">(3)**”History of the United States.”** Wilkipedia. 2 March 2008 <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">(9) **“Hoover and The Great Depression.”** 2 March 2008. <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1">http://www.args.k12.va.us/academics/history/Stoneking/chapters/us/us21.pdf <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">(5)**”Jim Crow Stories”** //<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">The Great Depression. //<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> © 2002 Educational Broadcasting Corporation. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_depression.html <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">(8)**”Labor Unions During the Great Depression and New Deal.”** 26 September 2002. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/depwwii/unions/unions.html <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">(12) **“Sliding into the Great Depression.”** 2 March 2008. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/TCEH/Slouch_Crash14.html <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">(4) **“The Great Depression.”** Oracle Think Quest Library. 2 March 2008 <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">http://library.thinkquest.org/3483/Rhist/gd.html <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> (6) **“The Great Depression and New Deal.”** By Joyce Bryant. 2 March 2008 <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1998/4/98.04.04.x.html <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> (11) **“The Great Depression”** Digital History. 2 March 2008 <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/great_depression/index.cfm
 * __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 48pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Works Cited __**