Invisible Man

Invisible Man

We are surrounded by dolls—G. I. Joe, Barbie, WWF action figures. We are strangely fascinated by these cold, lifeless objects that look so much like ourselves. Children clutch them and create elaborate scenes, while adults are content to simply collect, allowing them to sit, motionless on a shelf. Dolls are appealing to us because they bear a strange physical resemblance to us, but dolls remind us of ourselves. We live our lives attempting to be independent and free thinking individuals, but there will always be the strings that bind us to someone who controls our destiny. In Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison uses the images of dolls to constantly remind the reader that no one is complete control of themselves.

Our first example of doll imagery comes very early in the novel with the Battle Royal scene. The nude, blonde woman is described as having hair “that was yellow like that of a circus kewpie doll” (19). Ellison draws a very strong connection between the plight of the Negro man and the white woman. The fact that they are both shown as puppets in the work is no coincidence. The woman and the Blacks are merely show pieces for the white men in the novel.

Tod Clifton's dancing Sambo dolls are the most striking example of doll imagery. This small tissue paper doll has the capability to completely change the narrator. When he sees that the powerful and enigmatic Clifton is the one hawking the abominable dolls, the narrator is so filled with humiliation and rage that he spits upon the dancing figure. The rage of the narrator is strange to us because it is Tod Clifton and not the narrator who has degraded himself to such a base level. However, it is our narrator's sudden comprehension of his own situation that causes his wrath. The line "For a second our eyes met and he gave me a contemptuous smile" (433) illustrates this moment of realization for our narrator. It shows the reader that Tod Clifton was aware of his position as a puppet all along and chooses to enlighten the narrator at this particular point in the novel.

Another example of doll imagery is the line “Its cardboard hands were clenched into fists. The fingers outlined in orange paint, and I noticed that it had two faces, one on either side of the disks of cardboard, and both grinning” (446). This is exactly