Using a name to define a person is the easiest way for an individual to remain visible throughout their life. Ralph Ellison's novel, Invisible Man, deliberately leaves the storyteller anonymous for this exclusive reason: "'What's his name?' The boy read my name on a card” (Ellison 198). Ellison carefully excites the reader while waiting for the narrator's name to be revealed. The reader constantly expects a connection with the storyteller by knowing their name, but only to be disappointed. As frustrating as it is for the reader not to know the narrator's name, Ellison's methodical approach to writing is only fully appreciated when examining the stages of invisibility according to the life of the narrator. invisible man. By being unidentified, does the narrator become invisible? Or is invisibility the deliberate ignorance of an individual because of their race? Ultimately, these questions are never fully answered. Nevertheless, Ellison describes three essential and distinct stages that show the development of the transformation from a visible man to an invisible man: first, the subject is denied ambition, second, the subject is denied the right to be his own person, and thirdly, therefore due to In both cases specified above, the subject becomes invisible – fortunately there is a hope that he can reappear. The narrator is not always invisible: “I, like other men, was visible,” but something has undoubtedly changed (Ellison 5). The college-aged man presented at the beginning of the novel is noticeably different from the one presented in the prologue. The man in the prologue is resentful and unstable. In an opening scene of the prologue, once the chaos of Harlem has taken hold, the narrator engages in a grotesque and irrational act of violence...... middle of paper ......He identifies identity in three segments . The first is the loss of ambition. The narrator struggles with this repeatedly as he attempts to promote a better world than the one he is a part of, only to be silenced by those with higher power. The second phase occurs because the narrator surrendered to his superiors, he could no longer find himself as a person. Both of these processes lead to invisibility. A time in life when, no matter which direction you look, there is no hope. Fortunately, Invisible Man doesn't say that the story ends without hope. Instead, although it seems like an in-depth process, one can create a new dream, redefine who they are as a person, and become visible in the world. Invisible Man is not about invisibility, but about understanding how individuals perceive themselves. Works Cited Ellison, Ralph. The invisible man. New York: Vintage, 1989. Print.