The first paragraph of the story of Invisible Man sets the foundation upon which the story and themes are built. We are introduced to the character as merely an “invisible man” in the first statement of the novel. However, the man then goes on then to clarify that he is indeed not invisible in the most obvious sense of the word, but rather invisible in such a way that he is in the world, yet not seen for whom he truly is. He states in the first paragraph that when people look at him, they only see his “surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination” (pg 3). Who he is and what he does is invisible merely because of people’s preconceptions of him. This statement sets the premise for the entire novel’s theme, which Ralph Ellison expounds on in a variety of ways. Although the theme is stated in the first paragraph, Ellison builds upon that foundation using a variety of literary elements, ranging from stark irony to metaphors.

Before college the narrator gives a speech that promotes black men and women to submit in order to advance. His speech is then arranged to be heard by the town’s leaders. As they drunkenly listen to his speech, asking him to repeat the words “social responsibility” again and again, he finally shouts “social equality”. Immediately the crowds preconception of him as a submissive black person evaporates as they begin to see him for whom he is. They grow dangerously angry, and are only appeased when the narrator finally says he made a mistake; he was only swallowing blood. Their previous image of him is restored. Ralph Ellison ironically uses this situation as the revealing and instant hiding of who the narrator is. The irony of drunk men perceiving, if only for an instant, the truth and reality of the situation, and combining instant shunning of that reality along with imposing their own pre-conceived views about the narrator is used by Ellison with great effect.

The narrator then travels to the college, where he is given the task of driving one of the college’s founders around. During a surprising conversation, the founder, Mr. Norton, says to the narrator, “…you are my fate,”(pg 42). In this statement he arrogantly assumes ownership of the narrator’s fate, relegating it as to a tick mark on his pages of success. All Mr. Norton sees of the narrator is an opportunity to justify what he has done. Ellison ironically uses the metaphor of linking of the narrator to a tick mark by one of the original founders of the black college to show that even one who may have tried to do the right thing still only sees the narrator as something other than who he truly is.

While at the college, another founder gives a speech, telling of how he almost died, and of how he became blind and impotent. He then goes on to tell the tale of how the school was founded, rendering it all the while in a glorious manner. However, as the narrator finds out later, Dr. Bledsoe is really not the nice, humble person he seems, but a rather fiercer and more domineering individual. Yet the founder, literally and metaphorically, cannot see what he has helped to bring to fruition. Ellison makes a rather blunt point by having the blind founder tell of the school’s glory, implying that the founder is as blind to the result as he is to the world around.

The narrator’s epiphany that he is invisible because of people’s preconceptions about him comes later in the book when the leaders of the Brotherhood tell him that he was hired to talk (for he was a great public speaker), not to think. The people that the narrator had rallied behind him and the Brotherhood were now being abandoned for a different political cause. The narrator now realizes that the Brotherhood sees him as nothing more than a speaker, with no other purpose. This “blindness” in the Brotherhood is embodied in the metaphor of Jack’s false eye finally falling out. Jack, with only one eye, represents the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood has good intentions, and can see what they are trying to achieve. However, they are blind to many facts about people, society, and morals. More personally for the narrator is the fact that they are blind to his thoughts and input, merely wanting him to be their mouthpiece.

As he leaves the brotherhood he puts on a disguise originally intended to fool some of his enemies, but finds that everyone thinks he is Rinehart. It is at this point that the narrator realizes that the world sees him as they want to, without regard as to whom he really is. When he is finally trapped underground he begins to burn his Brotherhood papers as a means of light, some of which were his new identity papers. This is a direct metaphor used by Ellison to point out the ousting and illumination of his own illusions about himself and the Brotherhood, who had actually caused the rioting on purpose.

In conclusion, the theme of the narrator’s invisibility being due to other’s preconceptions of him is developed and supported through heavy use of often-ironic metaphor. The happenings with Mr. Norton, the blind founder, Mr. Bledsoe, Jack, and the Brotherhood all lend credence to the narrator’s belief that he is indeed invisible under the stereotypes of others. He brings the story to full conclusion, finding that though people find him invisible under their presuppositions about him, he is not invisible to himself. He knows who he is, and will remain true to that.