"Live with your Head in the Lion's Mouth"

Like others have mentioned, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man is a very difficult and disturbing read for me. This theme is nearly impossible to accept and I’m left feeling quite humiliated and ashamed on behalf of those that should be. I don’t like thinking about the violent mistreatment and manipulative realities confronting an entire race of people, of which Ellison’s portrayal of the narrator’s struggle for significance and self-identity in the face of extreme adversity and inequality, poignantly portrays in such a relatable way. This first chapter of Invisible Man has opened my eyes to the harsh realities of that era in a way that the attempts of both Douglas and Melville could not.

The prose is dripping with symbolism, from the haunting words of the unnamed Narrator’s grandfather serving as the stigma of his family’s past enslavement he’s trying to escape; to the white blindfold representing the parameters set within the white-dominated world he’s forced to “see” and navigate through; to the Narrator’s discovery that the precious gold coins he fought so hard for were really “brass pocket tokens” (p 32) underscoring his presence as the white man’s “token African American”; to the briefcase’s symbol of hope; as well as the haunting message the Narrator’s grandfather sends through his dream, that no matter the struggle, life is full of empty envelopes at the end, and that if you want to win the fight, you must keep on struggling, keep on running.

Reflecting back on the dying grandfather’s words that led with “live with your head in the lion’s mouth,” I conclude he’s imploring his grandson to “fly in the face of fear” and to not back down from life’s challenges. The message is clear that he’s advising the Narrator to become invisible and “play the white man’s game” in order to exploit his share of life’s opportunity.

To this day, even if not necessarily the same game – do we not all still play by these rules in hopes of finding our place in life?