Heroes Journey | EssayIvy.com

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Heroes Journey

Racism has been a common practice in the United States with the 20th century being the

peak of racial segregation. European Americans tried everything within their power to separate

the whites and the blacks. The Jim Crow laws made racial segregation more pronounced as they

never allowed blacks and whites to share public facilities, (Tischauser, 2012). Ralph Ellison's

"Invisible Man" is a novel that uses the story of an African American man whose color renders

him invisible, to address the problem that African Americans were facing in the early 20th

century. The story focuses on the racial inequality incidences that continued to recur in the

American society. The narrator of the story is a black boy who is trying to fit in a white-

dominated society by adhering to his grandfather's last words in his dying bed. This advice and

the wishes of the society rips the narrator apart in two directions making him forget his dignity in

an attempt to satisfy them. The hardships the narrator endured to accomplish his goals represent

the challenges African Americans faced in their fight for equality; which is why Ellison

concentrates on two stages of the hero's journey, the Belly of the Whale and the Initiation to give

the readers an insight on what the blacks went through to fight for equality.

The narrator of the story is the hero. He is an African American man who is trying to fit

in a white-dominated society in an attempt to earn their praise. He endures so many difficulties

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in his journey to achieving his goals because the whites took advantage of his ambition. The

quest to deliver his speech was the climax of the narrators suffering. However, he endured the

sufferings and came out stronger and better. There are several villains in the story whose actions

hinder the narrator from achieving his goals. For instance, the rich white dignitaries of the town

make the narrator go through a humiliating experience. Also, Dr. Bledsoe, the president of the

college in which the narrator had enrolled expelled him out of school for no good reason and

prevented his re-enrollment. In addition, Luscious Brockway tricked the narrator into setting off

an explosion in the broiler room following his paranoia of losing his job to the narrator. Lastly,

Ras orders the narrators execution, forcing him to go into hiding in an underground coal bin. The

allies in the story include Mary Rambo who takes the narrator in after he fainted in the streets

after leaving the hospital. Told Clifton, a youth leader within the Brotherhood is also an ally who

stood by the narrator to oppose the interests of the Brotherhood. The hero is able to overcome all

the obstacles that the villains put on his way with the help of the allies. He eventually emerges a

victor despite the hardships that cross his paths to success and comes out stronger than before.

"Battle Royal" takes place during the main stages of Separation and Initiation because the

story begins with the narrator in an underground coal bin where he is in his own world. He hid

there in fear of Ras' men who had followed him to Harlem and after attacking Ras who ordered

his execution. He undergoes through a series of tests sometimes alone and other times with

assistance. The first trial happens just before he delivers his speech during graduation. He goes

through a humiliating battle loyal to entertain the rich white dignitaries of the town. He is forced

into a boxing ring blindfolded where he is pitted against nine of his classmates. They give him a

thorough beating after which he is forced to watch an erotic dance by a naked blonde woman.

Now he is given the stage to deliver his speech. Moreover, he is expelled from college for getting

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a visiting rich white trustee, Mr. Norton into a chaotic scene. Also, he is involved in an explosion

in the boiler room leading him to be hospitalized, after which he faints on the streets upon

leaving the hospital. He encounters an execution attempt that Ras calls for, where he narrowly

escapes a gang by attacking Ras. The narrator survives all these hardships and emerges a hero.

Heroes have so many "tests" "trials" and "ordeals" to endure in order to gain the strength

that helps them achieve their mission successfully. Every trial, test or ordeal has its significance

in the life of a hero and leaves him or her with a lesson that makes his or her journey a success.

The endurance of these trials is what makes one a hero. The narrator's trials prepare him for his

mission which his grandfather wants him to achieve and as well as the society's wishes. The first

trial organized by the rich whites of the towns just before he delivers his speech teaches him to

remain focused no matter what he faces in life. He managed to deliver his speech even after the

thorough beating while blindfolded and watching a naked woman's dance. These challenges did

not distract the narrator from delivering his speech as it was the only way to acquire his

scholarship. He passed the test and won himself a scholarship to a Negro College.

The second trial that happens while he is in college teaches him that he did not require

education to achieve his goals, but dedication. He is kicked out of college for a mistake he had

not committed. The fact that Mr. Norton and him found themselves in the middle of a chaotic

scene was coincidental, but the college president did not give him a fair hearing. He even ensures

that he never returned to college even after working so hard in the paint factory to re-enroll. He

thus begins working towards achieving his goals without the education he so much wanted to

pursue. In the paint factory, he faced an ordeal when the chief attendant plotted a way of getting

rid of him. He subjected the narrator through an ordeal by tricking him into setting off an

explosion in the boiler room that led him into the hospital. The experience teaches him to be

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careful because not everyone he finds on his way is up to good and want to see him succeed,

something that prepared him for his mission.

The narrator has suffered so much in his various encounters with the whites and does not

want anybody else to go through the same experience. He begins by delivering a speech that

incites people to attack the law enforcement officers who were trying to evict an old couple. His

speech wins him a position in "the Brotherhood" after their leader Brother Jack requests him to

join the group. He continues to give speeches in rallies under the Brotherhood through peaceful

means. He comes across Ras, a fanatical black nationalist who believes that the Brotherhood

group is controlled by the whites and makes the narrator his enemy. It turns out that Ras is right

about the Brotherhood as they did not care about the interests of the blacks. The group is against

the narrator's ways of fighting for the rights of blacks and accuses him of being driven by his

own interests. Ras' men go after him in Harlem where he returns after his disagreements with the

Brotherhood. He faces his last trial when Ras found him and ordered his men to execute him.

The narrator survives the execution by the mob and ends up attacking Ras. After all these trials,

tests and ordeals, he emerged a victor by overcoming them successfully. He is now ready to

proceed to the next stage of the hero's journey.

The hero, in this case, is driven by the advice given to him by his grandfather, who

happens to be his mentor. He does not have any idea what his grandfather's words mean and his

parents could not help him figure out. He finds himself confused as he cannot get into terms with

his past to prepare for his future. His grandfather's ghost appears to the narrator frequently to

provide him with spiritual guidance. He eventually understands what his grandfather meant when

he asked him to fight "the good fight". He was supposed to impress the white men whose opinion

matters as they dominate the society. However, he got it wrong as his grandfather wanted him to

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only wear a mask while in his encounter with the white men as they controlled the society and

their opinions determined the quality of life the blacks led. According to the narrator's

grandfather, he is supposed to use "the good fight" as his survival tactics in order to maintain his

dignity and gain praises from the whites. The narrator's misinterpretation of his grandfather's

message causes him a lot of suffering as the whites took advantage of his ambition.

The story ends after the initiation stage when the hero has endured the trials, tests, and

ordeals and emerged a victor. His suffering happened because he got wrong his grandfather's

advice and the whites took advantage of his ambition. On the bright side, the suffering made him

strong and taught him the lessons he needed to continue through the other stages of the hero's

journey. At the end of the story, the hero says that he is ready to return to the world because he

was done hiding from it. This means that he is prepared to continue with the hero's journey to the

final stage, which is Freedom to Live.

To sum up, Ralph Ellison uses the story "Invisible Man" to explain the problems African

Americans went through during the 20th century. He concentrates on two stages of the hero's

journey the Belly of the Whale and the Initiation to give the readers an insight into what the

blacks went through to fight for equality. Racial segregation was witnessed in all aspects of life,

be it in the education sector, employment or in the residential areas, (Fredrickson, 2015). For

instance, there were schools for the Negros where the narrator was enrolled and their existed

schools for the white children. Also, the old black couple was evicted from their resident because

of their race. The whites ensured that they pinned the blacks against each other to prevent them

from uniting to fight for their rights. For instance, the boys who were involved in the thorough

beating that the narrator received were African Americans. Moreover, "the Brotherhoods" group

that ensured that African Americans never rebelled was controlled by the whites. In addition, the

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whites ensured that blacks remained uneducated so that they did not have any knowledge of their

rights. Therefore, through the narrator's sufferings, we get an insight of all that was going on in

America during the 20th century when racial segregation was a major problem that affected the

African Americans.

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Works Cited

Campbell, Joseph, and Edward Blake. The hero's journey. Mythology Limited/Public Media

Video, 1989.

Ellison, Ralph. "Battle royal." Literature Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner

(1994).

Fredrickson, George M. Racism: A short history. Princeton University Press, 2015.

Tischauser, Leslie Vincent. Jim Crow Laws. ABC-CLIO, 2012.

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