Loss of identity : a journey from illusion to reality in ralph Ellison's invisible man

الملخص EN

The problem of identity has been the concern of many writers and novelists after the WWI especially in America.

The American society in the early decades of the twentieth century was divided into two cultures: the culture of the white which was the dominant and controlling culture; and the culture of the Afro-Americans.

Torn between two cultures, the African identity was lost.

People started to ask such questions as 'who they are; What sort of people they are; and to which society they are related.

Ralph Ellison is one of the Afro-American writers who wrote about the problem of the social identity in his remarkable novel The Invisible Man.

In this novel, Ralph Ellison portrays the dilemma of the unnamed black narrator who is a successful young man living in a divided society.

He searches for self-esteem, acceptance and self-identity in a racist society.

Finally he realizes the impossibility of gaining the true identity, and that he is still an invisible man.

The research paper is divided into three sections: section one deals with the concept of identity, its types, and the psychological outcome of losing identity.

Section two presents the problem of social identity in Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man in which the invisible narrator lives in a society that denies his true identity, and he consequently goes through a journey of searching for his true identity.

This journey is proved to be futile because the narrator realizes that his invisibility is his true identity.

Many symbols and motifs are used artistically by Ellison to enhance this theme.

The conclusion sums up the finding of the study.