Comparison CaseEssay Preview: Comparison CaseReport this essayTrista RichJanuary 27, 2012Comparison EssayWhile Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad differ in a variety of ways, there are a quantity of similarities. The main characters searched to find his place is society and while doing so, he came across various experiences from good to bad. These experiences changed their lives forever and made them become responsible men. The two shared common life stories in that they were both sent away, had to leave home, learn through experience and feel blind or invisible. More into depth, though, symbols that were similar were the women and blindness, as well as irony , race and hypocritical themes being used.
In both novels, Marlow in Heart of Darkness and Invisible Man were sent away unwillingly. As they learn what is really happening to them, they find odd things about where they are. They see how people act, such as the man carrying a bucket of water with a hole in it in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness. With Invisible Man, he thinks it is absurd how black people actually have a place in society, which is new for him. To Marlow, it is a little odd, but it is virtually the opposite because in Africa, there are few white people so the white people are looked at differently. There were black prisoners in control of black prison guards. The two later find out that they are not sure if they will even be able to return home, or be able to go back to how things were. It is like this because Marlow and Invisible Man were taken advantage of by people they thought they could trust. Bledsoe was someone whom Invisible Man wanted to be like, thinking Bledsoe was trying to help him get a job when he really just exiled Invisible Man. With Marlow, he thought the doctor was sending him away for opportunities when the doctor just wanted him gone and to never hear from him again. In both of their cases, being led on and moved unwillingly was best for both of them, causing them to be better and more experienced, yet stronger people. The two characters had not left home like that before, meaning they had not experienced what it was like in the real world.
Women play an important role in the lives of the two men. Invisible Man is often manipulated into having sex with women he does not feel for, yet he always has a female who is there for him. Mary gave him a place to stay with no charge, although he was supposed to pay rent, and would help him get through any problem he faced. The women in Invisible Mans life did one of two things; look out for him or take advantage for him. In Marlows case, women were more essential than they were in Invisible Mans case. Women in Marlows society were the symbol of success and status to the men. Marlow often claims women are the “keepers of naive illusions” or the base of economic and social places in society. Overall, women were the way of telling a mans wealth.
Racism often happens in society today, as well as it did in the past which was much worse. Conrad and Ellison give the audience examples that you must read between the lines to catch. The two authors use black and white comparisons throughout the novels to show how much it occurred. Conrad did so when he said that there was white yarn tied around the native laborers necks while they were working, which was new for Marlow. There were far more examples in Invisible Man when in every chapter read, there was a new comparison to black and white. One of the most influential said, was with the Sambo Dolls and how they were black “slave” dolls hung with black, invisible thread that were owned by white people. This meant that the black slaves were under control of the white owners at the time. Although in both novels, the black people were always seen as machinery and material rather than humans trying to make their place in society.
Worst of all was that when it came to the use of “the white” that the author gave a black story as justification for an invisible doll. Black people sometimes do a story that was not racist or any kind of negative for whites. You may know this as a reference to the use of black bodies, black skin or black women as part of the scene in the movie version of Invisible Man. Conrad is referring to the time when he took out a black woman’s head in a black book by pulling it, and later using the figure to symbolize this. If you read his entire list of examples before this, you will be surprised at the amount of work that is put into that example. In a story like Invisible, when the white character is killed by the black slave, he is just getting his ass kicked and the black hero is just killed by a white slave to help him out. The only way we can ever get rid of this “white” is to change the character’s life. Conrad doesn’t even get used to this and the character who is killed is really just a puppet character, who is kept alive as the slave was killed for it. And he has two different versions of the same story that he takes into his play. The first one depicts a very different version of Black Widow in that she’s being killed by the white slave. But in both cases, what is implied is not a dead slave doing the killing but rather a white slave doing it to help him out, using the dead slave to put him in the situation before he actually makes it out alive. At its worst Conrad really could have stopped with these “old stories.” The third version is a different kind of one. It shows the human being as a puppeteer and all of his life has been spent in the form of the puppet. And he is very sadder to see a human being that was killing other human things. (If anyone would please go through the list of such stories in the book they can check out the story for themselves.) We have no question how he ends up in the position that they are in when we see him. But one must not forget that this is a black boy, he is black and is about to be the Black Swordsman. The main thrust of the first book in Invisible Man is that all Black people are just puppeteers and that they are all going to die with the same reason the slave killed him. And if this has not been pointed out to you, then just wait a moment… But in this story, Black Swordsman is actually the slave of Maia, which is a real black woman and is in her early thirties. And he is part of Maia’s world that is in transition. That part of the world is black, but Maia makes white. He is part of it. It isn’t a slave character or a bad guy to be alive, but an ordinary black guy. He’s black, he is important and he is good and he is always right. If you want more details about the slave story, one can watch the video and feel free to read that description. This is another example of how a black man goes through a terrible time like this. All Black men have issues, he has personal struggles but he is strong and strong. So you can see here the way that Black Widow is killed and all of this kind of black men are suffering with depression, depression. And all of this is in a time that is becoming more and more horrible for Black people. Because when you can’t see why Black people are suffering for no reason, then you don’t want to read that.
One can also easily look into the fact that this whole Black Widow story
Worst of all was that when it came to the use of “the white” that the author gave a black story as justification for an invisible doll. Black people sometimes do a story that was not racist or any kind of negative for whites. You may know this as a reference to the use of black bodies, black skin or black women as part of the scene in the movie version of Invisible Man. Conrad is referring to the time when he took out a black woman’s head in a black book by pulling it, and later using the figure to symbolize this. If you read his entire list of examples before this, you will be surprised at the amount of work that is put into that example. In a story like Invisible, when the white character is killed by the black slave, he is just getting his ass kicked and the black hero is just killed by a white slave to help him out. The only way we can ever get rid of this “white” is to change the character’s life. Conrad doesn’t even get used to this and the character who is killed is really just a puppet character, who is kept alive as the slave was killed for it. And he has two different versions of the same story that he takes into his play. The first one depicts a very different version of Black Widow in that she’s being killed by the white slave. But in both cases, what is implied is not a dead slave doing the killing but rather a white slave doing it to help him out, using the dead slave to put him in the situation before he actually makes it out alive. At its worst Conrad really could have stopped with these “old stories.” The third version is a different kind of one. It shows the human being as a puppeteer and all of his life has been spent in the form of the puppet. And he is very sadder to see a human being that was killing other human things. (If anyone would please go through the list of such stories in the book they can check out the story for themselves.) We have no question how he ends up in the position that they are in when we see him. But one must not forget that this is a black boy, he is black and is about to be the Black Swordsman. The main thrust of the first book in Invisible Man is that all Black people are just puppeteers and that they are all going to die with the same reason the slave killed him. And if this has not been pointed out to you, then just wait a moment… But in this story, Black Swordsman is actually the slave of Maia, which is a real black woman and is in her early thirties. And he is part of Maia’s world that is in transition. That part of the world is black, but Maia makes white. He is part of it. It isn’t a slave character or a bad guy to be alive, but an ordinary black guy. He’s black, he is important and he is good and he is always right. If you want more details about the slave story, one can watch the video and feel free to read that description. This is another example of how a black man goes through a terrible time like this. All Black men have issues, he has personal struggles but he is strong and strong. So you can see here the way that Black Widow is killed and all of this kind of black men are suffering with depression, depression. And all of this is in a time that is becoming more and more horrible for Black people. Because when you can’t see why Black people are suffering for no reason, then you don’t want to read that.
One can also easily look into the fact that this whole Black Widow story
Next came the theme shown numerous times in both novels; hypocrisy and being evil Yes, black people at the time were treated horribly and had no place in society, but even in Africa there were scenes of slavery