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The work tells of Malcolm's rise from a life of crime and sin to deliverance through his conversion to the Nation of Islam, then his repudiation of that sect in favor of a more inclusive vision of world and racial unity.

At the funeral for Brother Tod Clifton, whose murder is one of several epiphanies, or moments of illumination, in the novel,

the invisible man looks out over the people present and sees "not a crowd but the set faces of individual men and women."

Ellison seems to suggest that such an establishment of personal identity should be the true aspiration of African Americans;

that it is only through the establishment of identity that other progress can be made; and that as long as African Americans allow others to determine their identities, true freedom and equality will be hard to achieve.

While these impatient questions ostensibly test the hero’s memory, he finds them difficult to answer.

The essay suggests that the transplanted blacks residing in Harlem had too often lost touch with the folk traditions that had supported their sense of identity in the South.

presenting the ballroom as a chaotic world where nothing can be trusted, and by presenting the boy as fully human and flawed, Ellison makes a happy ending impossible.

There is still too much for the boy to overcome, too much for him to learn. He does not yet know the difference between looking and seeing, and he does not understand that in a world of chaos, a piece of paper is no more to be trusted than a gold piece on a carpet. At the end of the story, though, there is some hope.

These imposed ideas prevent him from discovering who he is, and allow others to see him as they want to see him.

Without his realizing it, he comes to live within the limitations set by others, forged out of prejudice. After his time living underground, he comes to understand that he will be proud of his racial heritage and make important contributions to society, which will force others to acknowledge him for the man he truly is.

In vitriolic public speeches on behalf of the Nation of Islam, he described whites in the United States as devils and called for African Americans to reject any attempt to integrate them into a white racist society.

He had eight children with his wife, Sister Clara Muhammad, but also fathered a number of illegitimate children with his secretaries, a circumstance that was one of the reasons for Malcolm X's final break with the Nation of Islam in 1964.

His new embrace of Islam greatly changed his views. When he returned to the United States in 1964, Malcolm X rejected racism of all kinds, spoke of a common bond linking humanity, and conceded that some whites did want to end racism. He formally broke with the Nation of Islam and changed his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.

For Malcolm, this is symbolized by the "conk," a hairstyle that relaxes curly hair so that it straightens and lies flat. Getting his first conk elevates him from the "country Negro" class into the class of the hip blacks who live in the city.

In 1964 Malcolm X broke with Elijah Muhammad and converted to Sunni Islam, taking many of his followers with him. The year that followed marked the first time in Malcolm’s career that he was free to think and speak for himself. It was a period of intense change and creativity, during which he abandoned the racist ideology of the Nation of Islam and tentatively began to reach out to whites and to the mainstream civil rights movement.

Malcolm was a bright student and, in fact, was at the top of his class in junior high school. In the eighth grade, however, one of his favorite teachers told him that his dream of becoming a lawyer was “no realistic goal for a nigger” (Malcolm X 1965, p. 36). At that point he lost interest in formal education and dropped out of school.

The survey indicates that parents misunderstand what's important to their kids, underestimate their maturity, overlook problematic behavior and withdraw themselves from their children's daily lives.

"Clearly, there's a connection gap if half the people in a conversation think they don't get a chance to explain themselves," says Kutner. "If one person tends to dominate most conversations at the expense of another, it can create an environment filled with misunderstanding, anger and resentment."