How Does Ralph Ellison Use Surrealism In Invisible Man

When considering Ralph Ellison’s prominent novel, Invisible Man, one can not help but to notice his excessive use of surrealism. His reoccurring patterns of surrealism aid the development of the narrator by using imagery and symbols to force the narrator out of his shell. making him visible. Ellison’s reiteration of surrealism in chapter eleven, depicts the narrator’s death by exaggerating sounds. Under the presence of drugs, the nameless narrator visuals a distorted reality in which he has now exposed himself to: “all I kept hearing the opening motif of Beethoven’s Fifth- three short and one long buzz” (Page 232). In reality, Beethoven’s Fifth was just the humming of the hospital’s heart monitor. The doctors then prepare to resuscitate the narrator by administrating an electric shock to his heart which again leads him to rediscover the distorted reality: “A whirring began that snapped and cracked with static, and suddenly I seemed to be crushed between the floor and the ceiling” (Page 232). The narrator was obviously not struck by the ceiling, but by the defibrillator paddles. The sudden compression between the narrator and the paddles was unexpected and lead him to believe he was dead. Almost immediately
His rebirth is then captured by Ellison in which he utilizes surrealism, in order to illustrate the narrators confusion upon waking up: “My mind was blank, as though I had just begun to live” (Page 233). The narrator has no memory of how he got to the hospital, no memory of his name, and no memory of his mother— he has no identity. Ellison's unique surrealism in this chapter explains and gives meaning as to why the narrator has lost his identity. With the loss of his identity, the narrator can now rediscover himself and leave behind his past which may have been holding him back. The only reason the narrator is allowed to do this is because since he has no memory, his past means nothings. It is as though it never