Similarities:
- The poem is about hidden, misunderstood enlightenment of a sort; everyone's wrong but a select few who are shunned for their wisdom. One cannot be both wise and successful in society which seems to be the case in Invisible Man as well. In the book it's clear that, if you're black, and choose to be a part of society, you can be both lucky and immoral (Bledsoe), or you can suffer (grandfather, dispossessed people). The poem addresses this too, devoting a paragraph to those who fit in, but at great cost to their integrity (businessmen and indecisive women), and paragraph to those who have been destroyed by the city (the walleyed beggars and birds tie-dyed with soot).
- In the book, those who reach an understanding of what's really going on (older narrator, vet) don't bother acting for others, making them come across as really weird till you listen to what they're actually saying. Like in the novel, the only truly wise character is the local "crazy", Mary. All these people are pushed from society in one way or another. They become invisible in that no one can take them seriously or see how they really think.
- The path the narrator of the poem takes is similar to the path of the narrator of Invisible man. They both start off like most people, looking down on those considered "crazy", and end up admiring them
- Of course I have to mention the dream themes going on. In the poem, "dreaming" represents the (potentially dangerous) oddities of human nature and our blindness to them when we all do them the same. Everyone is dreaming because we all do irrational things, but Mary dreams openly, while the city is said to "dream itself awake." In Invisible Man, the narrator's early life comes across much like a dream because of how he's pushed around with little control or awareness of the strangeness around him. He believes, of course, at this point, that he is completely awake. Recently in our reading, in the midst of a very dynamic stage for the character, he mentions he is half asleep and half awake. He was directly referring to his state upon waking in the morning, but Ellison hides stuff like this all the time and I think there's a deeper meaning. As the narrator becomes aware of his surroundings he seems to be dreaming less and less- in some ways. He's more lucid and seems to be making more decisions, but his life remains super surreal. I imagine this is something like what Mary (in the poem) experiences.
- Mary's unique point of view allows her a lot of freedom, and even some power. She is able do what she wants, when she wants, without shame. She is also immune to the "deep voiced commands to go away". She can "beat the air into obedience" and always make her words "come out right". The vet and the older narrator seem similarly free.
- Both have "white is right" themes. The poem seems to portray people's rejection of Mary as similar to their rejection of black people/culture. The narrator mentions how her family (like Mary) was less concerned about fitting in than most people in her city.
- A character named Mary. Native Son too.
Though there are many similarities, I think that Invisible Man's criticism of society kind of ends at racism, (and its related blindness and lack of opportunity) while Circus of the City's extends to any sort of irrational societal distinction between a right and a wrong. Normalcy and weirdness are not concepts that an enlightened character gives any thought to in this poem. In fact, those who claim to be normal, and seem to be harmless; "businessmen benign" have evil within them; "malignant interest rates". The rejection of normalcy is not quite so present in Invisible Man, I think. It shows up, but Ellison is not explicitly telling us to not worry about fitting in.
I'm really glad you caught all these things, because after we did discussion of the poem last friday I also noticed all these similarities with Invisible Man that I didn't notice on my first reading. In the beginning of Invisible Man, the narrator seems to struggle with how he should act, what is the right thing for him to do. Should he listen to Norton and take him to Trueblood’s cabin? The narrator in the poem comments on Mary throwing that out the window and being completely independent. It’s interesting how you say the narrator becomes more comfortable with “crazy”. Certainly in the prologue he seems to completely be doing his own thing and ignoring all of society’s norms. Like a complete weirdo. Mary also does very odd things, like waving her arms around in the street and odd things with bags. But the narrator of the poem has a respect for Mary, she wants to be like Mary. I don’t think the narrator is where he is in the prologue at the point we are in in the novel, but it seems like he’s gonna get there and be really comfortable with it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you. I think that as the story continues the narrator will become more and more like the Mary of the poem, completely independent and no caring about anything. This was especially present in the prologue when he beats the man and then runs away laughing.
ReplyDeleteI don't know that I'd agree that Ellison's critique "ends at racism"--Ellison depicts "invisibility" as a pretty widespread social phenomenon, and a lot of readers from various backgrounds relate to the narrator's struggle to navigate between doing what his elders/authorities expect/desire of him and what it even means to "find himself" and forge an identity of his own. In American culture, for a person in the narrator's position, racism complicates this process immensely, and thus most of the novel's conflicts have *something* to do with race. It makes "visibility" more difficult to achieve, but it isn't the only possible lens through which to view the narrator's struggle.
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