The failure of the Afro-American dream in the African American literature

Abstract EN

The present research paper aims to explore the failure of the Afro-American dream in Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man which highlights problems of identity, invisibility, racism and disillusionment within a white supremacist society.

Besides, as an African American author, Ellison portrays the complexity of the African American identity through his protagonist's struggling journey of self-discovery from ignorance to disillusionment.

In order to highlight these themes, the author employs diverse forms of oral tradition including songs, stories, and sayings which can be considered as weapons to voice the sad realities that African Americans were experiencing in a segregated society.

Hence, this paper relies on an interdisciplinary approach that takes from both literature and culture in order to explore and analyze the different aspects of oral tradition and how can these forms help to communicate the desperate quest for visibility and equality and to examine the representation of the Afro-American dream within a racially segregated context.