AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES: HOUSTON BAKER ON RALPH ELLISON
Assignment for next time
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, chapter two. (on reserve)
Houston A. Baker, "To Move Without Moving," Black Literature and Literary Theory: 221-48. (on reserve)
Study questions
1. Baker's essay focuses on the writings of Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man (1952), one of the most important works of African-American literature. Baker begins by quoting not from Invisible Man itself, but from several of Ellison's critical essays. Based on these quotations, what might you infer about Ellison's attitude toward folklore? Why is Ellison skeptical of folklore? Why does he prefer art instead? And why, perhaps more importantly, might this issue--the relation between folklore and art--be of importance to Baker? Based on Baker's opening remarks about Ellison, what can you infer about Baker's attitude towards folklore?
2. Why does Baker make so much of the fact that Trueblood's story is "thoroughly rehearsed"? How does this fact fit into Baker's argument about "the public and private commerce of black art in America"? As you consider such questions, you might think first about the black artist (represented in Ellison's narrative by Trueblood) and then about his white audience (represented by Mr. Norton). According to Baker, what do white audiences usually want, need, and expect from black artists? (NOTE: I think that this group of questions is probably the most important of all.)
3. On pages 228-35, Baker turns to one of the major themes of Ellison's novel: black male sexuality. Given what Baker says on 228-9, what can you infer about Ellison's treatment of this theme in other parts of the novel? How, for example, does the notion of castration appear to figure into the book as a whole? And how, according to Baker, is Ellison's treatment of sexual themes different in the Trueblood episode?
4. What does Baker make of Trueblood himself? Does he find that there's anything to like or perhaps admire about Trueblood? In describing Trueblood as a trickster figure, is Baker praising the character? Does Baker's attitude towards Trueblood ever seem to differ from his attitude towards other characters? What does he have to say about the other characters in this narrative: Kate, Trueblood's wife; Mr. Norton, the white millionaire; and last but not least, the narrator (who is the Invisible Man of the novel's title)?
What next?