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Class In Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man

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The literature from this semester from the 1920’s-1950s are examples of American Southern Literature that illustrate the struggle of the Old South. A time in American history of great change, national identity from WWI and WWII and the acceptance of minorities. During this time conflicts took place regarding race and society. These Issues of race, class and gender roles are due to inability to accept and embrace the new social order.
In many of these texts read this semester involved issues of race and the way people in the south responded to it. In Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man, the issue of race affects the story’s unnamed main character. The main character was invisible to the white higher class white men. The narrator’s skills were …show more content…
In Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire the concept of class has a significant impact on the characters. From the play it is learned that Stella and her sister Blanche came from a well to do southern family, “a great big place with white columns” (Williams 1125). Blanche sees herself as being higher class than Stanley, “dressed in all white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklace and earrings of pearl, white gloves and a hat, looking as if she were arriving at a summer tea or cocktail party” (Williams 1119). Blanche is actually not an upper class women, and is living in a world of fantasy. She expects others to treat her as if she is living in the Antebellum south “Please don’t get up” (Williams 1139). When Blanche meets Stanley a war begins between a working class man Stanley, and a southern Belle Blanche. Due to after WWII and during the early 20th century the country saw an influx in immigration. The United States became a melting pot of different cultures. Blanche continues to refer to Stanley as a “"Pig – Polack – disgusting – vulgar – greasy!" – them kind of words have been on your tongue and your sister’s too much around here! What do you think you two are? A pair of queens?” (Williams 1160).This again relates to the concept of not accepting people different. Blanche thinks that class is very important and cannot accept that Stella married a lower class than where they came from. Stanley represents the new order in the South, a society that does not rely solely on where you are on the class pyramid, and that an immigrant can become successful, or an example of the American Dream. This is again significant because it relates to the acceptance of the new southern way of life that only some

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