Existentialism in Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man depicts a young man as he discovers his place in society and life in general. The novel's elements of absurdity, anxiety, and alienation of the narrator prove its stance as an existential novel.

Absurdity plays a major role in existentialism. The character must realize that one's whole existence as a human remains ridiculous. After his New York City experiences the narrator realizes, "Till now, however, this is as far as I've ever gotten, for all of life seen from the hole of invisibility is absurd" (579). Because the narrator lives in a hole, and others completely overlook him, the narrator comes to realize how strange and backwards the world exists. The narrator realizes as his journey begins to end, "I had switched from the arrogant absurdity of Norton and Emerson to that of Jack and the Brotherhood" (508). Invisible Man sees...