Similarities Between The Round House And Invisible Man

Coming of Identity Your identity is a curious thing. It can take many forms and be affected by many things. It can change the way you look at yourself, look at life, and how others look at you. Without and identity we would be ghosts blending into society. When pondering upon identity two books we have read this semester came to mind. The books I would like to look at are Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, and The Round House, by Louise Erdrich. These two books are vastly different. They take place in different times, different places, and a different way of thinking. However, their underlying plot is actually very similar. They both revolve around Identity and what guides our characters to find or receive one for themselves and the factors that drive the search. Namely, discrimination and pressure from people who become close to them and the law. Invisible man, by Ralph Ellison, is a novel written about the struggle for identity for African Americans in the
We see both Joe and the narrator come across women who become a mother figure to them. In the case with the Invisible man, we see him find Mary, a woman who takes him in after he is released from the paint factory hospital, after he has been “blown up.” Mary brings him into her home when he collapse on the street and takes care of him she goes as far to advise him “… All you needed was some rest… No, don’t get up yet. You got to drink your soup, then you can go (Ellison 254).” Not many people would go to such lengths for a stranger in need and she acts like his replacement mother as his is so far away. She latter lets him stay with her for free, expecting payment eventually, feeds him, and is interested in his job search. The narrator soon finds and identity with the brotherhood and after some time, he loses contact with her and is unable to crawl back into her arms to regain the identity when times get