Abstract: Invisible man is the only saga novel of Ralph Ellison, who obtains the first hand materials from the lives of the blacks. By describing the suffering experiences of a poor boy from south to explore the hardships when the black seek for their freedom and ego identity in a white dominated American society. The paper takes the view of the post-colonialism, such as Fanon’s view of race and identity, Said’ s notion of “the Other” and Homi Bhabha’s “Third Space” as theoretical basis to parse the work and analyse the root of the hero status changes, namely “invisible” post-colonial exploitation. On the basis of above theories, the paper emphasizes the means of getting rid of racial discrimination, identity as “the other”, which have a positive significance in America, China and even the national integration and harmony in today’s world.

Key word: post-colonialism; individual identity; racism; the other; third space

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 Invisible man-1

1.2 Post-colonialism Theory-2

1.3 Literature Review-4

2. Searching for Individual Identity-5

2.1 Life Experiences with Different Identities-5

2.2 Psychological Experience in Searching for Identity-9

3. The Reasons for Various Identities-16

3.1 Main Predicament – Racism-16

3.2 Identity as “the other”-17

3.3 Uncertain Identity in the Third Space-19

4. Conclusion-20

References-22