Group items tagged

This quote displays the tangent between the poor working conditions of the farmers in the 30s and of now. The workers are treated horrible and no one can help them because they are independent workers or their buyers stiff them. Due to the oppression they receive, the theme of helping others is again ignored

Interesting read about activists for anti-capitalism/environmentalist (ignore that fact) and their conclusion that working reform with the system doesn't work. Now, they see the light, and the only thing left for each of them, is subversiveness and action against the institution. 

"... the Renaissance encouraged literary and artistic works that would reshape notions of blackness in American popular consciousness and counter dominant stereotypes of black inferiority."

This article discusses the Harlem Renaissance in terms of the contribution of women and how they were often overlooked. This article provides additional insight into the culture of the period in which Invisible Man takes place and the role of women. This article provides support for an essay discussing the roles and oppression of gender in Invisible Man.

"Many of the contributions of women and sexual minorities to the Harlem Renaissance were overlooked, minimized, or forgotten in the decades after the movement."

Although this doesn't 100% directly address IM himself, this study by Stanford has swagger! It's a direct, fascinating study which ought to disappoint whites with their own behavior. Apparently, the majority of whites relate blacks to apes and gorillas, which is not only disrespectful, but also dehumanizes them. As a result, by likening blacks to animals, more whites are prone to tolerate anti-black violence, or, at least the usage of cruel words, such as Nigga, which offend and further dehumanize African Americans.

American traditions and institutions perpetuate the disadvantaged positions of nonwhites in ways that black people have experienced as personal in particular situations. This importance of race in public and private life, as well as subjective experiences of racism, have drawn to existentialism both black and white philosophers who address racial issues.

The source explains the difference of black existentialism and white existentialism. A definition of the term reads, "A philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will". However, while oppressed by whites in America, black existentialists cannot simply get what they want through will, so they need to include betterment for all blacks as a primary goal in life.

Discusses the loss of African American culture and unity over time; while being Americanized, many Afro-Americans simply gave up on their common ties, making it much harder during the civil rights movement for blacks to rise up and take their rights.

This quote has to due with the Invisible Man's attempt to break away from his past. This shows his progression as he knows that it is only holding him back. He needs to thirve in the new north with a new life

While the rest of the world was busy bashing African Americans and blacks in general, women were also fighting for their rights and being oppressed by all different races. Ellison displays this in IM by making women IM's weakness and using them as "bait"

A study by the University of Minnesota and Penn State that asserts that the number two cause of domestic violence is the perceived culture of oppression that many African Americans have and pass on to others.

"However, the migrants were no longer obsequiously dependent on agriculture or domestic service for livelihood, nor were their lives and limbs endangered because of political agitation. They were free to support racial uplift organizations and programs."

" Blacks were becoming less rural and more urban and aggressive. The social energies that fueled postwar activism had been built virtually out of sight of mainstream America."

This article provides historical background for the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950's and 1960's. The article explains the influence of the postwar era and other factors that engender and affected the movement. The article provides additional insight into the society dictated position of blacks in American culture and racism throughout the society. This article puts the autobiography, Malcolm X, into greater historical context. The article would be beneficial for an essay discussing oppression and the black's fight to attain equality.

"Ellison's evolving political views had a deep impact on his continual re-envisioning of that novel's structure and content."

This article is a biography on Ralph Ellison which explains the time from his birth to his death. The article provides additional insight into Ellison's life and his early life ambitions. This article expresses how the events of Ellison's life and political views provide insight to the authorial purpose of the novel which is to bring the reader to the realization of their own oppressive behavior and hopefully change.

"Every society organizes around a set of beliefs, values, and behaviors. Prejudices play a major part in shaping these beliefs and the resulting behavior that leads to unequal treatment among various groups within the society. "

"These historical patterns of race relations greatly influenced how people in America through time perceived others and interacted with them. These patterns of behavior became entrenched, creating social standards people were expected to live by. Blacks were stereotyped as weaker, less able, and less valuable than whites."

This article explains racial prejudice forms and becomes instilled in a society. The prejudice then affects various aspects of the society against the object of the oppression. Invisible Man demonstrates this concept through the racism the narrator experiences being a member of society. Some of the discrimination against the narrator is unintentional, but some is deliberate. This article would support an essay discussing the effect of prejudice on society's values, customs, and beliefs.

"The white men menacingly watch as the young men tremble with fear, knowing that in the time they live, a Black man who demonstrates sexual interest in a white woman risks being lynched"

This source provides a detailed look at the battle royal, and this quote highlights the oppression that is evident in the first chapter.

"Ultimately, the lack of civil disobedience in Invisible Man follows the lack of recognition and the legal invisibility of African Americans in the United States of the 1930's"

This source criticizes IM for his lack of action. It claims that his lack of disobedience and blindness to his situation ultimately parallels that of many African Americans in the early 1900's, explaining why their oppression was allowed to go on.

Talks about alot of interesting things including the numerous black victories, and the affects of being oppressed and the psychological affects of being treated as a second class citizen

Although Sparknotes is a very stereotypcial website on novels, it's still a very effective source of information. It makes blatantly clear the fact that the rich, aristocratic upper class is mainly responsible for the poverty and economic devastation in the country. The rich get richer at the cost of the destruction of the lower class. The workers are treated poorly in an effort to keep them desperate, which in turn keeps the rich people rich. Selfishness and greed, key themes in practically every novel read so far, is clarified and pointed out. The condition of the migrants is no accident, it's an intentional, deliberate plot to oppress them. Their only hope is through unity.

"In an attempt to defend their right to earning living wages, migrant workers tried to organize labor unions. Naturally, this was strongly discouraged by the growers, who had the support of the police force, who often used brute force. In Kern County in 1938, for example, a mob led by a local sheriff burned down an Okie camp that had become a center for union activity."

The quote you addressed, out of context, would easily assimilate with the points made in FFN, N&D, and The Jungle as well.

Oooh. Ellen, calling her out on context! Nice ;) I still think Sarah makes a decent point though. GOW and small parts of the Jungle are the only books where actual and real brutality and force are used to oppress workers. While the other books simply mention corruption or unethical practices, maybe even some law-breaking here and there, her quote addresses physical abuse and literal violence towards the workers, almost like slave-era times.

"...and she examines how corporations often strip employees of their dignity. Random locker searches and drug testing occur despite what she routinely observes to be honest, hard working co-workers"

That's true. But if you don't keep your employees absolutely paranoid and full of stress, it's possible they might rebel or cause insurrections. So of course, you HAVE to oppress them and take away their pride so that they'll have no self esteem or confidence left.

I agree with Evan because this quote displays a business tactic in which companies continuously strip their workers' of their rights, which leave them with very little hope. However, as seen in GOW, this little bit of hope, along with their lack of money, will allow these workers to stick to their jobs in these environments.

This is a list of other novels dealing with women and how they are oppressed and such.