FREE ESSAY ON METAPHOR

METAPHOR

The novel, The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, opens with the nameless narrator hearing
the last words of his dying grandfather. Throughout the rest of the novel, the messages
from his grandfather are omnipresent. They foreshadow his downfalls in the future. He is
convinced by his parents to ignore his grandfather's words of wisdom by his parents, but
his grandfather is right in the end. INSERT TEXT HERE. The narrator is not only a black
man, but a black sheep.
The narrator sees his education as his hope for the future. When he looks in the
briefcase given to him by the superintendent he sees something. It was a scholarship to
the state college for Negroes. My eyes filled with tears and I ran awkwardly on the
floor. The narrator could now afford to take his education further. Education is so
important to the narrator because it raises his status above the other blacks, but when
he tried to use the education he faltered. He feels as if he will be able to contribute
so much to the world when he receives this scholarship from the superintendent. This
gives the narrator a hope for the future.
Towards the end of the novel, the narrator begins to realize the truth about his life. I
was and yet I was invisible, that was the fundamental contradiction. I was and yet I was
unseen. It was frightening and as I sat there I sensed another frightening world of
possibilities.