Psychological Legacy and Identity Crisis in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and Juneteenth

Abdelrahman Jalal  Othman; Rebwar  Zainalddin

doi:10.25098/5.1.2

Authors

Abdelrahman Jalal Othman English Department, Faculty of Arts, Soran University, Erbil, Iraq
Rebwar Zainalddin Translation Department, College of Language, Cihan University- Sulaimaniya, Slemani, Iraq

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25098/5.1.2

Keywords:

Identity, African American, Psychology, Culture, Trauma, and Ralph Ellison

Abstract

There has been an increased interest in the study of both identity and psychology in literary studies especially in the second half of the twentieth century to the present day. This paper deals with the crisis of identity and the accompanying psychological conditions in Ralph Ellison's novels Invisible Man and Juneteenth. The study will highlight how the main characters in these works face difficult choices in facing the reality of life in a society that is affected by cultural and racial prejudice. Ellison himself belonging to the race, tries to depict the agonies of African Americans who despite of being contributors to the foundation of the nation yet, they have been denied the status of visibility. Through sharing the traumatic experiences of his protagonists, Ellison is trying to uncover some real issues that many people thought they have been bypassed in the so-called developed country as The United States.

References

Abbott, A. S. (1985). Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man. New York: Barron’s Educational Series.

Albrecht, J. M. (2010). Saying Yes and Saying No: Individualist Ethics in Ellison, Burke, and Emerson. In H. Bloom (Ed.), Bloom’s Modern Critical Views: Ralph Ellison (p. 65). New York: Infobase Publishing.

Alexander, J. C. (2004). Toward a Theory of Cultural Trauma. In J. C. Alexander, R. Eyerman, B. Giesen, N. J. Smelser, & P. Sztompka, Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity (p. 22). Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press.

Bellow, S. (1998, MAY 10). Ralph Ellison in Tivoli. Retrieved February 28, 2020, from Los Angeles Times: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-may-10-bk-48197-story.html

Callahan, J. F. (2004). Ellison’s Invisible Man. In J. F. Callahan (Ed.), Ralph Ellison’s Invisible man : a casebook (p. 288). New York: Oxford University Press.

Caruth, C. (1996). Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Baltimore and London: John Hopkins University Press.

Dickstein, M. (2004). Ralph Ellison, Race, and American Culture. In J. F. Callahan (Ed.), Ralph Ellison’s Invisible man : a casebook (p. 135). New York: Oxford University Press.

Early, G. (2010). Ralph Ellison: invisible man. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation.

Elliott, A. (Ed.). (2011). Routledge Handbook of Identity Studies. London & New York: Routledge.

Ellison, R. (1952). Invisible Man. New York: Vintage International.

Ellison, R. (1999). Juneteenth (1 ed.). (J. F. Callahan, Ed.) New York: Vintage International.

Ellison, R. (1999). Richard Wright's Blues. The Antioch Review, 57(3), 263-276. Retrieved August 30, 2016, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4613877

Erikson, K. (1995). Notes on Trauma and Community. In C. Caruth (Ed.), Trauma: Exploration in Memory (p. 183). Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Eyerman, R. (2004). Cultural Trauma : Slavery and the Formation of African American Identity. In J. C. Alexander, R. Eyerman, B. Giesen, N. J. Smelser, & P. Sztompka, Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity (p. 60). Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press.

Frosh, S. (1991). Identity Crisis, modernity, psychoanalysis and the self. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hill, M. D., & Hill, L. M. (2008). Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man: A Reference Guide. London: Greenwood Press.

Jua, R. M. (2005, January). Ralph Ellison and the Paradox of "Juneteenth". Journal of Black Studies, 35(3), 310-326. Retrieved September 15, 2019, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/40034762

Leary, M. R., & Tangney, J. P. (2012). The Self as an Organizing Construct in the Behavioral and Social Sciences. In M. R. Leary, & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (2nd ed., p. 2). New York & London: The Guilford Press.

Tracy, S. C. (Ed.). (2004). A Historical Guide to Ralph Ellison. New York: Oxford University Press.

Vignoles, V. L., Schwartz, J. S., & Luyckx, K. (2011). Introduction: Toward an Integrative View of Identity. In S. J. Schwartz, K. Luyckx, & V. L. Vignoles (Eds.), Handbook of Identity Theory and Research (pp. 1-25). London: Springer.

Wald, E. (2010). The Blues: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.

Woodward, K. (2002). Understanding Identity. London: Arnold.