The Plight Invisibility [Genres]

The Plight Invisibility

No, I have never seen a light so bright

As darkness filled my days with pleasant shade

Until their blindness cut straight through my night

Once, Ebony latched on and held on tight

But soon the sun shined through her blackened veil

No,I have never seen a light so bright

The sun scorched through my freedom and its height

I once fed on the golden paths it made

Until their blindness cut straight through my night

They walk through me, ignoring my insight

A color, another copy made

No, I have never seen a light so bright

Until their blindness cut straight through my night

Dear Potential Sight,

 I write this in a great abyss. Not the physical, never-ending superstitious kind, but a great, maroon void that emerged from inconsistent thoughts…

      I am not close to it. I don’t know what it feels like or what I should do to get to it. It just hangs on my shoulders, never explicitly affecting my actions, but it is always near; this abyss. It brings about frustration and aggression that always seem to be of great urgency. But from a higher perspective they are not worth the time or energy.

     The void craves attention. I’ve always had to give it what it wants or consequences are sure to follow. I obey aptly as it whispers to me its commands. This is the point of no return they say; when we begin to look for escape through other ‘things’. Some try drugs, some relationships, some happiness, some violence, and some hypnotically saunter towards the veil; drawn to its call and performing its errands. The veil is what separates the seen from the unseen. It blocks our view from seeing the truth and clouds our mindscape with low standards and low self-esteems. The veil injected me inside the minds of black children causing them to lose sight of your face. Some have completely fought me off, some still struggle to get rid of me, but still, some are unaware that I have infected them.

    I declare the commencement of a new age. One’s whose sole purpose is not to see how they can succeed behind the veil but to completely rip the veil apart and hinder my grip on society. Heed my word and everyone I have infected will be cured with your hopeful taunts.

                                                                                    Sincerely,

                                                                                     Invisibility

The Plight Invisibility [

Lisa Hayden

AP Lit &Comp/Per:4

Mrs. Romano

21 May 2015

The Shadow of the Veil

In a society that values individual dreams and unique opinions, an American citizen’s identity should be very important. Many people go throughout their life believing that what they do and how they act impacts the world around them. This may be true for many people, but for a significant amount of people in America this is not the case. The majority of the black community is construed by society as a collection of general stereotypes rather than an actual, individual person; or they are invisible. In Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, he develops the narrative of a black Man who, after people label him everything he is not, realizes he is invisible and goes into a hole. This invisibility is described by the protagonist as how people, “see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination-indeed, everything except me” (Ellison 3). “One face” media coverage and the separation of whites and blacks are factors that contribute to this invisibility. In order to get closer to visibility these factors must be abolished.

The media has a tendency to portray the black community, specifically black males, as one face. African-American men and boys appear in the news as thieves, criminals, predators, and violent disturbances and rarely as good students and fathers. Our country is now comfortable with the one-dimensional portrayal of black youth in not only the news but also video games, magazines, movies, and advertisements. This is a result of  the firm grip white supremacist structuralism has on  the media. This grip is deep-rooted in history and has been present for a very long time. In years following the abolishment of slavery, white lynch mobs justified the mutilation and lynching of black men with merely, “we’ve got to lynch a nigger now and then to protect our women” (Ginzberg 210). Messages like this one resonate with the justification of police brutality with their efforts to protect their own mortal hides. Both messages are coated in racism and preconceived notions of the black race causing black boys to be criminalized before they know what a criminal is. The criminalization of black youths creates the perpetuation of this cycle of blacks being guilty until proven innocent (and in most cases they’re never proven innocent). With this prevalent portrait of the black community it is easy to neglect any other opinions about the black community. The individuality of each gem is forgotten and one, single puzzle is seen instead of each unique puzzle piece.

Invisibility is not only caused by the purposeful manipulation of the media, but a subtle undertone that our society is comprised of: the veil. The veil is a concept that is present in W.E.B. Dubois’ novel “The Souls of Black Folk”. The veil is comprised of three concepts. First, the veil “suggests to the literal darker skin of Blacks which is a physical demarcation of difference from whiteness” (Dubois 87). The second suggests white people’s lack of clarity to see Blacks as “true” Americans. And lastly, the veil “refers to Blacks lack of clarity to see themselves outside of what white America describes and prescribes for them” (87). This veil shades the vision of both Blacks and Whites. The veils reference to the physical demarcation of blacks, or skin color, is the basis of racism. The perception of African-Americans as inferior to the white race is a result of white supremacist structuralism, a system of stratification based on the belief that skin color makes whites superior. The invisibility of the black community is caused by racism based on the skin color of blacks and whites. Race ignores words spoken, images seen, and what is in the heart and minds of blacks it instead focuses on skin color; an aspect with hardly any relevance to a person’s identity. This is why the separation of whites and blacks contributes to invisibility. The labels produced, based of a person’s skin color, neglect the individual’s identity and perpetuate the general stereotype. 

Works Cited

B., Du Bois W. E., Henry Louis Gates, and Terri Hume. Oliver. The Souls of Black Folk: Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999. Print.

Cacioppo, John T., Richard E. Petty, and Stephen L. Crites, Jr. "Attitude Change." Encyclopedia of Human Behavior 1 (2004): 261-70. Web.

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage International, 1995. Print.

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “The Danger of a Single Story.” TED. July 2009. Lecture.

Ginzburg, Ralph. 100 Years of Lynchings. Reprint ed. N.p.: Black Classic, 1996. Print.

The Plight of Invisibility

 "The Souls of Black Men" by W.E.B. Dubois contains a lot of information regarding the topic I chose; the how the labeling of black Americans by the media removes individuality and increases invisibility. Dubois defines two terms in his writing "the veil" and "double consciousness". The veil has three points. The first refers to the veil created by the physical demarkation of blacks from whites; melanin. The second refers to the veil created by the way white America chooses not to 'see' black people but instead only views the general stereotypes surrounding them.
Expository Essay Rough draft:
Important terms to define:
Invisibility: According to Ralph Ellison in Invisible Man, to be invisible means to be construed by others as a collection of general stereotypes rather than an actual, individual person.
Source: http://rationalargumentator.com/InvisibleMan.html
I found text evidence: "they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination-indeed, everything except me" (3).
Blindness: Society's refusal to 'see' black people as individuals.
Intro: An attention grabber maybe relating to Invisible Man.
Thesis: The portrayal of blacks in the American media is what creates the invisibility of African American citizens in the U.S.White supremacist structuralism removes individuality from black people.
p1: Invisibility: Establish the invisibility of the black community in today's society.
p2: Blindness: How blindness creates a single story (stereotype). Source: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Ted Talk
How "the veil" is detrimental to individuality. Source: The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Dubois
p3: Pursuit: The struggle the black community faces to overcome their invisibility.
End: The road to gaining the sight of individuatlity of the black community is every present and neverending but it involves both sides to recognize the others' individuality.
Genres:
Personify Individuality and Invisibilty                                                          

The Pursuit of Visibility

Irresponsibility is part of my invisibility; any way you face it, it is a denial. But to whom can I be responsible, and why should I be, when you refuse to see me?" (14). In *Invisible Man* by Ralph Ellison, he presents the narrative of a man who becomes invisible to those around him. The nameless narrator, is labeled through the novel as a pimp, a gambler, a reverend, and many other names. He gets into numerous scuffles, attempting to determine where he fits in with the black community but doesn't succeed. He finally goes into hiding in search of himself. At the end of the novel he is ready to face the world again as the invisible man. The book evokes frustration in the reader. By the end, you wish for the protagonist to be noticed by his society but all his efforts lead to no avail. His story, redolent of the present African American struggle, sparked my interest in
the Black American pursuit of visibility. The pursuit of visibility is very prevalent in American society. Groups who are being discriminated against constantly protest to be heard, to be recognized, to be seen... One thing
  Ellison makes clear is that invisibility is a two-way street. Those who are 'invisible' to their society are only invisible because their society refuses to 'see' them.
 Because of this the focus for my research is how the white supremacist structuralism that refused to 'see' blacks in the 1930s compares and contrast with the structuralism present in 2015. I understand this is
a very broad topic so I need to narrow it down. I plan to research topics like respectability politics, the victimization of black youths, gentrification, Jim Crow, etc., and see how this hinders
 visibility. More than researching society's blindness, I would also like to research the characteristics of blacks' pursuit of visibility. Ellison's protagonist had multiple views on white and black tensions that surfaced throughout the novel. This was caused by the dissonance between his grandfathers black nationalist view and his evident support of respectability politics. This generational nuance coupled with white supremacy intensifies the search for identity. The pursuit is also characterized by frustration or repetitive blocking of ones' goals. Several notorious black orators have had many of their pathways blocked in efforts to gain visibility. I'd like to research the methods people used to breakthrough these boundaries.

Final Post: The Identification Crisis

This book was a coming of age story for multiple reasons. Milkman, the protagonist of Toni Morrison's novel Song of Solomon, went on a quest and at the end discovered his identity. After, Macon Jr, Milkman's father, tells him to retrieve gold from a cave in Virginia, Milkman starts his journey to get the gold but ends up on a spiritual journey trying to discover his identity. Eventually towards the end of his journey, flight surfaces as a symbol representing identity.

In the beginning of the book we are aware of childhood Milkman's wish to be able to fly. It appears at first that Milkman is just any other kid wishing for some sort supernatural power. But then, Morrison gives us myriad examples of the supernatural; forcing us to realize that this is the norm. So why shouldn't Milkman be able to fly? Well, for a lot of reasons. First, he doesn't really want to. It is shown through out the book that Milkman is very uncomfortable with the supernatural. When he sees his mom being suffocated by tulip buds, he tells his friend Guitar that it was just a dream. He denies it because he is uncomfortable with it. When Freddie, a janitor, tells him about ghosts he tell Freddie he doesn't believe him. But his failure to be convinced of the reality of the supernatural is not the only reason why he can't fly in the beginning of the book. He is "grounded" in the earth by material things. First, it is his love for sex with Hagar. He eventually rejects her and then his love for sex is replaced by money. Macon Jr., his father, tells him that there is gold in a cave in Virginia. Macon Jr. remembers a white peacock that appeared to him when he was a kid in the cave. It appeared while he decided on whether or not to take the gold. He ended up leaving it so he's sending Milkman to get it for him. Milkman concludes that if he recovers the gold from the cave in Virginia, he will be able to live independent of his father; a much needed privilege. Guitar finds out about his mission and asks him to bring him some of the gold too. Milkman agrees to this but Guitar doesn't trust him. They eventually begin to fight over this and Milkman runs away in search of the cave.While they are fighting a white peacock appears to the two of them just like the one his dad had seen in the cave. Milkman gets to the cave, but there is no gold. This is where he begins to find his identity. The peacocks are a symbol of greed and pride. Because they described the peacocks feather in the book as, "fanned out and pompous" (293) it's explicitly saying it is a very proud animal. It is described that Milkman and Guitar both look at the peacock but eventually turn away. Revealing how they recognized their greed for gold, but eventually ignored it for the gold they were about to receive. It is not untill Milkman "begins to shake with hunger. Real hunger" (253) after he is left food-less for a few days while hunting, that he realizes materialistic items are not what you need to survive in this world. He then discovers that his family lineage is important to him and he travels to Susan byrd, an elderly lady who took care of his great-grandfather, to ask her about his family history. She explains how his descendant were the flying African children. She described how Solomon and his wife Reyna gave birth to a son called Jake who turned out to be Milman's great-grandfather. After he heard this story of how his great-great grandfather flew, he became more self-aware. He realized what he had done wrong to Hagar (the girl Milkman rejected) and that his mom genuinely loved him. He realizes that his name is crucial to his identity and what he associates with it. After this he goes with his aunt Pilate to bury the bones of his great-grandfather. Unconvinced that Milkman didn't find the gold, Guitar had been looking for Milkman and found him with Pilate. It is their that Guitar shoots a gun at them in efforts to kill Milkman but misses and kills Pilate. Milkman sings to Pilate as she dies and stands up ready to face Guitar. It is then that he leaps and "wheels towards Guitar...For now he knew : If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it"(337). The symbolism of flight here is very important. Not only is it the transition from his materialistic mindset to the discovery of his rich identity, but it also shows his flight from boy to man.
I would strongly recommend this book because it is a very fresh read. Each page turned was like a bite deeper into a juicy cucumber. The novel never got boring; it screamed at your eyes for you to taste it's rough skin. Morrison's Milkman is a ten dimensional character who's problems are so specific they become relatable, but maintain unpredictable: therefore very fresh. It's even more invigorating if you read this book with Foster, Prose, Nabokov, O'Conner, and Perrine on your shoulders. In my journey through this book I found myself noticing Vampirism. For example, the "bloody red" tulip buds and Macon Dead Jr. and how both of them were pretty much sucking the life out of Ruth. But also being able to notice Morrison's techniques helped give more understanding to the novel. In Flannery O'Conner's essay Writing Short Stories, she mentions how you only need to write one story; there is no need to tie up loose ends in every character. If I hadn't been aware of this I would be left unsatisfied, still trying to figure out what was going to happen Reba, Milkman's cousin, and all the other side characters. Instead, I realized the irrelevance of the continuation of the story and was able to focus on what mattered: giving the story a greater deal of apprehension.

Peacocks of Gold

Milkman, the protagonist of Toni Morrison's novel Song of Solomon, has started a quest to look for gold. This is not surprising because his character in the book has resorted to defining his identity with the value he puts on materialistic items. For example, he's uninterested in all the women in his community, but he thinks he should have his wife and the value he places on owning a wife dictates that his identity includes having a wife. So in this case a wife is a material item. My prediction is that he will recover from all his little material obsession. My first reason is because Morrison has alluded to his abandonment of loving the gold. When Milkman talks with his friend Guitar they argue about how they should split the gold. Guitar doesn't believe that Milkman should be trusted in bringing back Guitar's gold. While their bickering was going on, a ghost peacock appeared. At this moment, Milkman started evaluated whether or not he really needed the gold: revealing his awareness of greed and questioning his involvement in it. By showing this display of his maturity, I believe Morrison is foreshadowing that eventually Milkman will give up his greed. Though his thoughts don't express the need to give up his greed, the fact that he questions why he has greed is sufficient because the first step in overcoming a problem is being aware that you have it. The other reason why I believe that he will leave his materialistic mindset in his childhood is because in a town of whimsical mien, Milkman appeared to be an unfit puzzle piece with a normal demeanor. The people Milkman has encountered so far (his mom, dad, sisters, aunt, barbers, and shop owners), have all been revealed to believe in the supernatural and have encounters with it. Milkman is the only character so far who has expressed any form of suspicion in the supernatural. It is revealed to us that he sees his mom chocked by tulip buds but he tells his friend Guitar that it was a dream. When he spends a night in Ryan's Gulch (a ravine haunted by a women by the name of Ryan) with a group of guys and begins to hear eerie sounds of a woman crying, he is the only one in the group to suggest that it's just the wind. His inability to be convinced by the supernatural is made very clear in the book. At the beginning of the book, Morrison goes through great lengths to show his disbelief in ghosts and other mystic creatures. But towards the middle of the book, she gives distinctions of Milkman changing his point of view. He begins "experiencing the sight of Macon Dead I" (251) as well as a white peacock. In seeing these apparitions, Milkman's character doesn't face them with uncertainty. Instead, he recognizes presence with conviction. As the ghosts become more frequent and Milkman's self-awareness becomes more evident. There are clear parallels set between the supernatural and his greed. For example, when he becomes aware of his greed he also notices the apparition of a peacock. Though he eventually ignores the peacock, he believes it is there just like how he recognized his greed was there.
If he is able to overcome his disbelief of the supernatural, he will eventually be able to overcome his greed.

I Like Her Vulgar Paint

One thing bringing me pleasure in the text positive light shed on vulgar events. The happenings of this book are horrifyingly uncomfortable at times if you don't understand their purpose: giving the book a very piquant flavor. In order to establish the complexities of her characters in her novel Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison includes a lot bizarre events. For example, Milkman, the protagonist, is really named Macon, he gets the nickname Milkman because Ruth, his mother, used to breastfeed him long after he was able to eat real food. This can easily be viewed as very perverted and weird but Morrison delineates that the pleasure she is receiving from this act was not a perverted pleasure. At first, Milkman experiences "shame and impotence"(23) at this memory. but as we follow him along his quest we realize the extension of her motherly care is a result of love. On the day of her dad's funeral, Ruth is described, by her husband, as laying naked on the bed alongside his dead bloated body; even though Ruth states she was fully clothed. But it is these to contradicting details that describe the rift between Ruth and her husband.By using an outrageous event to grap the attention of the reader and eventually using it to develop her characters, Morrison makes the Song of Solomon a very pleasurable text.
Morrison's aggressive use of magical realism is also bringing me a lot of enjoyment. Milkman sees his mother getting suffocated by bloody, red, tulip buds. Freddie, the family's janitor, told Milkman his mom died after seeing a girl turn into a white bull. Also, Freddie constantly chats about ghosts as if they're as real as people. This motif of magical realism continues through the book with "men and dogs talking to each other" and other fantastical occurrences(277). Within the book you can feel Morrison's efforts to bring back the culture of the people she's describing. By adding magical realism she taps into a deeper layer of this culture. It adds depth to the development of the story; adding color and uniqueness. In the book the, motif of identity keeps showing up. Morrison uses magical realism to paint Milkman's journey. For example, she describes a fall day with meticulous detailing, "on autumn nights, in some parts of the city, the wind from the lake brings a sweetish smell to shore. An order like crystallized ginger, or sweet iced tea with dark clove floating in it... This heavy spice-sweet smell made you think of the East and striped tents and the sha-sha-sha of leg bracelets"(184). This combination of the realistic lake, wind, and shore with the suggestive, redolent characteristic of sweet ginger creates a specific painting in the minds of the reader while allowing the reader to still have control over what sweet ginger does to the image of autumn nights. This aspect of her writing is very enjoyable because the events in the story are so vividly illustrated while still being somewhat customizable by the reader; allowing an infinite amount of colors into her writing.