Harlem Renaissance Poets Vanica McCormick-Williams Robert Henry World Cultures II May 22, 2015

Beginning in the 1920s until the mid-1930s, the Harlem Renaissance was a well read, creative, and intelligent development that ignited a unique black cultural existence. Its significance was summed up by expert reviewer and Professor Alain Locke in 1926 where he stated that through art, “Negro life is capturing its first opportunities for group expression and self assurance.” Harlem became the center of a “spiritual coming of age” in which Locke’s “New Negro” transformed “social disillusionment to racial pride.” Ralph Ellison was born on March 1, 1914 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He died of pancreatic cancer on April 16, 1994 in New York City. (Ralph Ellison, 2015) Richard Wright was born on September 4, 1908, in Roxie, Mississippi. Richard died from experiencing a heart attack on November 28, 1960, in Paris, France. (Richard Wright, 2015) Both of the authors made a major impact on society during their lifespan. According to Biography.com, Ralph Ellison was a 20th Century African American writer and scholar best known for his renowned, award winning novel “Invisible Man”. Ellison’s role in the Harlem Renaissance is his reputation as a deeply ingrained writer and a philanthropist that exceeded even the most esteemed circles of the American History. In addition, according to Biography.com, pioneering African American writer Richard Wright is best known for the 1940 Bestseller “Native Sea” and his 1945 biography “Black Boy”. Wright’s role in the Harlem Renaissance was as an inspirer. He is respected and known to many writers as an inspiration. His life-like fiction no longer has the standing it once enjoyed, but his life and word remain admirable. From the year of 1903 to present day, double consciousness, a term coined by W.E.B. Du Bois to describe an individual whose identity is divided into several facets, has developed as a key theme in African American collected works and analysis. It’s the belief that’s proficient in depicting the typical “black” experience in America. “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison and “The Man Who Lived Underground” by Richard Wright are two well-known African American manuscripts that use the theme of inconspicuousness and a chosen identity to explore the notion of double-consciousness. Richard Wright’s usage of the idea of double-consciousness is the most noticeable in his description of the disturbing and tormenting occurrences as an African American. Granted that Ellison’s speaker in the manuscript is also exposed to the experience of being “behind the veil” ;(2014) his double-consciousness is also epitomized throughout the restraining environment of his “second sight”. (Lyne, 2013) At the commencement of the story, his mindfulness of this “second sight” (Lyne, 2013) was nonexistent. Consequently, this privileges his “American” vision (Seidlitz, 2005) powerless to classify with characteristics of “black” (Seidlitz, 2005) culture. As the story develops, nonetheless, the narrator becomes more conscious of his double-consciousness and starts to obtain an African American character and personality. “The Man Who Lived Underground” begins by presenting a central character who is acknowledged only as “he”. “He” is regarded as a “reactive, instinctive, less-than-human fugitive”. (Cappetti, 2001) The person who is reading the story first encounters him “crouching… running and dodging… gritting his teeth… dropping instinctively to his hands and knees.” (2014) (The Man Who Lived Underground, 1942) The animal like form is originally both unnamed and does not have an identified race, until his exterior is gradually defined in dissimilarity to the “white face” (Watson, 2003) of the law enforcement officer “looming above his head.” (The Man Who Lived Underground, 1942) This introduction, which limits the reader’s interpretation of the protagonist, simulates the metaphorical implication of double-consciousness and influences the reader to see Daniel “behind the veil”, (2014) inhibiting us from viewing Daniel for who he really is. His individuality at this point is definitely not chosen of his own free will; he has been labeled a murderer by the ethnically discriminative societal institutes that regulate the “white” (Watson, 2003) world above ground. As Daniels begin to adapt to his new residence underground, Daniels makes fresh and momentous findings about the life he had just fled. While he is considering his choice of judgment to continue hiding himself underground, an indistinct sound captures his interest and he finds himself “tantalized” (Watson, 2003) by what is recognized as a church service. As he observes the “black men and women in white robes singing” (The Man Who Lived Underground, 1942) his initial urge is to laugh at them. The passage then takes a rather disturbing turn as the narrator becomes more conscious of the stench of the sewer “blowing in on them” (The Man Who Lived Underground, 1942) and the central character becomes conscious that he is “gazing upon something abysmally obscene.” (The Man Who Lived Underground, 1942) This intensely suggests that his primary conversion into self-awareness has begun to transpire. In a simpler formation of words, his “veil” (2014) is being raised and he begins to observe things unmistakably. The two themes I recognized in “Invisible Man” are identity and race. Identity in “Invisible Man” is a struggle between how the central character perceives him and the prognosis of others, as was shown through one man’s tale: the anonymous narrator. He recognizes that his factual individuality is actually indistinguishable to the society around him. Only by deliberately separating himself from civilization can he contend with and come to recognize himself. While most of the narrator’s complications in the novel are related to his ethnicity, “Invisible Man” is a narrative intended to rise above ethnicity and all the other ways humankind has classified people. Two structured themes for Richard Wright’s narrative are guilt and Fred Daniel’s journey for individualization. In nearly every chapter, Daniel’s contends with guilt. Immediately upon hearing the churchgoers singing hymns, he has the urge to laugh but instantly he is “crushed with a sense of guilt.” (The Man Who Lived Underground, 1942) Deliberating over the scene, he starts to consider that they are mistaken to be asking forgiveness of God. The contradiction is momentous: he is “crushed” (The Man Who Lived Underground, 1942) with guilt over the uncomplicated experience of almost laughing, yet he believes that others should “stand unrepentant” for their own sins. As he maneuvers through the tunnels underground, his analysis of the interpretation of guilt appears even more confused. He slowly begins to comprehend that everyone is equally guilty, or equally not guilty. He journeys to discover who he is and how he fits into a ridiculous world where people are both preys and predators. The introductory line insinuates this theme: “I’ve got to hide, he told himself.” (The Man Who Lived Underground, 1942) Although this line implies that he is actually concealing himself by escaping into the innards of the underground, it also proposes that he is shrouding himself from himself, the self that will become noticeable and obvious by the conclusion of the story.

One-Thousand Words

People say that an image is worth ONE-THOUSAND words

Well, what does my image hold?

I’ve been gazing intently for hours upon hours

But the story remains untold

I’m struggling to remain resilient

Even when my vigor vanishes

But it’s difficult not being knowledgeable of the solutions

I’m on my own, submerged in my tears

Crossing my fingers and wishing, hoping, praying

I’ll recognize who I am within

However, I’m afraid it’s too late

Am I just a husk, have I already perished?

People say that an image is worth ONE-THOUSAND words

But I’m stressed with the fact that I can’t even find just ONE

And I’m scared that I’ll explore for my entire life

And end up discovering none

Works Cited

(2014, February 6). Retrieved from http://onlycoffeeisreal.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/252
Bloom, Harold. Ralph Ellison (New York: Infobase Publishing, 2010)
Bruce Jr, Dickson D. ‘W. E. B. Du Bois and the Idea of Double Consciousness’, American Literature, Vol. 64, No. 2 (Jun, 1992), pp. 299 – 309
Cappetti, Carla. ‘Black Orpheus: Richard Wright’s ‘The Man Who Lived Underground’’, MELUS, Vol. 26, No. 4, (Winter, 2001), pp. 41 – 68
Callahan, John F. Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man: A Casebook (New York: Oxford University press, Inc, 2004)
Cross, William E. Shades of Black: Diversity in African American Identity (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991)
Du Bois, W. E. B. ‘The Souls of Black Folk’, in The Norton Anthology of African American Literature ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr, Nellie Y. McKay, 2nd edn. (New York: Norton, 2004) pp. 692 – 766
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man (New York: Penguin Classics, 2001)
Faber, Michael. The World of Richard Wright(Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 1985)
Gates, Jr, Henry Louis. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African American Literary Criticism (New York: Oxford University Press, Inc, 1988)
Moore, T. Owens. ‘A Fanonian Perspective on Double Consciousness’, Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 35, No. 6 (Jul, 2005), pp. 751 – 762
Ralph Ellison. (2015). Retrieved from The Biography.com Web site: www.biography.com/people/ralph-ellison-9286702
Richard Wright. (2015). Retrieved from The Biography.com Website : www.biography.com/people/richard-wright-9537751
Stepto, Robert. From Behind The Veil (Chicago: University of Illinois, 1991)
Wright, Richard. ‘The Man Who Lived Underground’, in The Norton Anthology of African American Literature ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr, Nellie Y. McKay, 2nd edn. (New York: Norton, 2004) pp. 1436 – 1470