Invisible Man and Existentialism

I have been trying to view Invisible Man as an existentialist novel. At first I was confused by how they connected, but as I researched more I found that Kierkegaard's three spheres of life fit perfectly with the novel.
One of the leaders in existentialist ideology, Kierkegaard believed that there were three parts, the aesthetic, the ethical, and the religious, and that as we move through life, we experience these different phases. The aesthetic phase can be a time of intellectual enjoyment and enrichment; the ethical is when one must take responsibility for one's actions, and the religious is when one realizes sinfulness and its social effects. These different parts of human life conflict, at times, and they may be experienced together or separately.
In Invisible Man, Ellison develops these three different aspects of the character chronologically. The Invisible Man's aesthetic phase can be found during his time at the college, when he just wanted to give speeches and be among other intellectuals. During his ethical phase, he has to take responsibility for his actions as he is expelled, looks for a job, and eventually finds out that the letters were not positive at all. The religious phase comes in when he joins the Brotherhood. It is here that he learns the truth that men are not always what they seem to be and that they can, in fact, be cruel. These three aspects of life cause confusion for the Invisible Man, and he runs away and hides in the basement. It is there in the basement that the existentialism in the novel really appears, and his previous experiences lead him to it.

-Erica W.

Opportunity

Within the novel Invisible Man, opportunity is one of the main forces that plays a key part. When the narrator is given an opportunity to achieve something, he takes it and does his best. However, his opportunities are very limited, due to the fact that he was a black man and the times he lived in restricted him. Had he been able to do as he pleased and strive endlessly toward his main goals, such as a higher education, a job, and a family in the Brotherhood. However, he allows all of the things that he has achieved to be sacrificed for more, which he ultimately never achieves. Every time he gains a sense of self identity, it is stripped away and he is again, revisited by invisibility.

Alyssa R.