Ralph Ellison Influence On Society

College was a chance and opportunity for higher learning discoveries of McCandless’ strengths and weaknesses. Attending Emory University and receiving exemplary grades was another achievement that he was able to do on his own, “His grades were nearly perfect” (136). If McCandless was indeed insane, he would not have been able to receive the grades he did, he had to follow the rules and not be an outcast.

Now conformity is said to be “the world’s most common but dangerous psychological disorder”. To be a conformist, you listen to society, you follow society’s demands, and you crave society’s attention. But to be a nonconformist, you do the opposite. You are an independent individual: “To be human is to be an individual human, with individual tastes, talents, values, and dreams” (Feys 1). Society takes all this away from you even though you want to be your unique self. One person who I can truly call a nonconformist is my sister. She doesn’t live under society’s demands. She hasn’t let society consume her individuality. She doesn’t change her appearance to fit in. She doesn’t care about what society thinks of her.

In the novel The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the unknown narrator represents how members of his entire community are manipulated by white men. By portraying the narrator as a stereotypical African American, Ellison is able to show the constant struggles African American men have to face and the vicious cycles that often prevent them from succeeding.

Langston Hughes was a very famous poet but also a dreamer during the 1920s when discrimination and racism were main problems in the society. He was a civil right activist who proposed the idea of equal opportunities between all races by writing poems, books, and playwrights; many of his famous literatures affected Americans in many crucial ways. Hughes’s main idea against the society was equality however he discovered that it is difficult to change people’s “norms” and stereotypes. Therefore, his humorous and serious type of writing effectively appealed to many audiences which eventually played a big role of achieving racial equality and equal opportunities.

Irish author Oscar Wilde claimed that disobedience is a valuable human trait, and that it promotes social progress; thus, without it, social progress would not be made. Civil disobedience is to social progress as hard work is to academic success. With hard work comes academic success, and with civil disobedience comes social progress. Though some see disobedience as a negative trait, it is what has promoted social progress in history by challenging social standards and requiring new social rules to be made.

Emerson says, “But the great man in the midst of a crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude” (Emerson, 247) it is saying to be a great man they have to stand out in the crowd and not conform to society. Because if we just follow society blindly we just all become the same and nobody stands out. This is all true since nobody wants to break a rule so they just follow it and live a normal life. But if we act different we are to be an outcast which is why he adds the line “perfect sweetness the independence of solitude” (Emerson, 247) which is trying to say it is a misunderstanding to be an outcast and we should not fear it. Since we have to stand out in the midst of the crowd we have to do things that aren’t the same as others which is why Emerson says, “There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide” (Emerson, 246) Which is saying that we should not copy others and think for ourselves because if we copy others we should just commit suicide. A clear example of this is from the Twilight zone episode named Number 12 Looks Just Like You. This example is about Marilyn Cuberle that once she turns 19 she has to be conformed into society by looking like the rest but she refuses to be one of them because of how her dad had the transformation and afterwards regret and

“It was a triumph for the whole community” (Ellison 2). But when he arrived at the ballroom where the “smoker” was being held he was herded into an elevator with nine other black boys like him. “I didn't care too much for the other fellows who were to take part” (Ellison 2). He resented them, considering himself superior to them, after all he had been invited there to read his graduation speech, besides he “suspected that fighting a battle royal might detract from the dignity of [his] speech” (Ellison 2). They resented him too, since one of their own had lost the money he would have earned for that night’s event because the narrator had replaced him. The narrator’s unquestioned participation in all that subsequently took place that evening is an indication of his blindness, to the realities of

“The end of all knowledge should be service to others”, says Cesar Chavez (brainyquote.com). Though some activists’ live lives of undoubted suffering, or at least sacrifice, their work makes a difference and inspires many to follow; as a result, it creates hope for those facing similar problems. Boyan Slat, Hadi Partovi, and Cesar Chavez are examples of this characteristic, and, because of their actions, others stand with them, protest with them; sometimes even overturning unjust laws, allowing an ideal society to be created in the eyes of all citizens.

The setting in The Jungle by, Upton Sinclair takes place in the early 1900’s. The main story line is pictured around the Chicago meat packaging industry, or “Packingtown”. The author goes into graphic detail about the different ways the meat was “tainted”. In the Chicago meat packaging industries many of the workers were killed and turned into fertilizer as they fell into the fat rendering tanks. Sinclair also discussed how the deaths on the killing floor occurred. Workers suffered major injuries and were often ran over by runaway cattle. The title is a symbol for nature itself. Nature can be competitive and can relate to Capitalism. “Packingtown” is similar to

During their long conversation, it is revealed that Dr. Bledsoe never intended for the narrator to

Dr. Bledsoe’s beliefs and actions toward the narrator mark him as invisible, adding to narrator’s inability to advance in life. Dr. Bledsoe explains to the narrator that black people are only able to succeed when they play the white man’s game. In other words, the narrator should always strive for a white man’s approval, even if that means lying to oneself and acting against one’s principles. The first instant we see the narrator invisible to Bledsoe is his expulsion. The narrator was expelled from the college because Bledsoe believed he was a threat. In other words, the narrator’s mistake with Mr. Norton created worried feelings in Dr. Bledsoe; he felt that Mr. Norton’s disapproval

The story Battle Royal is a truly a battle against one’s own self more than it is against each other. In the story the narrator is willing to do anything to achieve his dreams. This is illustrated by how he goes does not resist the complete oppression of the whites and the mental beating the put on him. In the story the narrator persisted to fight through the temptation of oppression of the stripper, the beating in the ring, and the electric rug just for a little scrap change (Ellison 181-183). All of this would commonly be regarded as treason towards his African American heritage like his grandfather said (Ellison 177). I feel that going against his race for his dream

Ellison even declared that jazz music can be used as a way to emancipation from the

“Perseverance isn’t one long race; it is many short races one after the other.” - Walter Elliot. When someone is facing their idea of impossible, they must overcome many small bumps in the road and when they get over that small bump it can make them believe in themselves and make them stronger as a person. But perseverance can be well worth it in the end. Through determination, we can learn why perseverance is essential to making us stronger both mentally and emotionally, but we can’t just understand why but also how perseverance help in making us the strongest people we can be. However being persistent not only affects us as individuals but it also affects our communities and the society we live in. At the end of the day perseverance one

In Tim Wise’s reading, the focus is how discrimination, prejudice and racism is due to the miscommunication between whites and blacks and how for a white man to understand the true evil that is happening would be for him to enter the shoes of a black man. This was mentioned by Wise as he said, “How else except by becoming a negro can a white hope to learn the truth” (Wise, 225). Miscommunication and lack of acknowledgments causes setbacks which in return leads to racism and discrimination and this was shown in “White Like Me” when a white man had to temporarily become black to bring out the truth.