Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The question of identity has remained crucial in the American psyche and has been reflected in all of its literature. By and large, Juneteenth in a paradoxical manner also attempts a definition of the American identity. Delving into the lives of and relationship between Daddy Hickman and Bliss/Sunraider, Ellison demonstrates that essentially there is no difference between a Black man and a White man. This is amplified throughout the novel by the movement the Black characters make from the periphery at the beginning of the story to the very heart and soul of the novel. The convergence of the lives of Bliss/Sunraider and Hickman is reflected as they reminisce and echo each other. A symbol throughout the novel as he begins life in the coffin/womb, Bliss/Sunraider, now a U.S. senator but formerly a preacher and then subsequently a movie man, will be shot at by his son with a Black woman. As Bliss/Sunraider and Hickman look back at the trials and tribulations of their lives, Ellison lets readers see in no small way that they are only men, one no better than the other

Keywords

Ralph Ellison Juneteenth paradox American

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Baker, H. A., Jr. (1988). Afro-American poetics. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.

Baldwin, J. (1955). Many thousands gone. In Notes of a native son (pp. 18-36). Boston: Beacon Press.

Baumbach, J. (1970). Nightmare of a native son: Invisible man by Ralph Ellison. In D. B. Gibson (Ed.), Five Black writers (pp. 73-87). New York: New York University Press.

Broyard, A. (1951, April). Keep cool, man. Commentary, 11, 361-362.

Davis, C. T. (1982). Black is the color of the cosmos ( H. L. Gates, Jr. , Ed.). New York & London: Garland Publishing, Inc.

de Crevecoeur, H.S.J. (1967). What is an American? In S. Bradley , R. C. Beatty , & E. H. Long (Eds.), The American tradition in literature (pp. 191-202). New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.

Dickens, C. (1977). Great expectations. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Educational Publishing. (Original work published 1860)

du Bois, W.E.B. (1982). The souls of Black folk. New York: New American Library.

Ellington, D. (1977). It don’t mean a thing (if it ain’t got that swing). In H. L. Gates, Jr ., & N. Y. McKay (Eds.), The Norton anthology of African American literature (p. 58). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

10.

Ellison, R. (1953). Invisible man. New York: New American Library.

11.

Ellison, R. (1964). Brave words for a startling occasion. In Shadow and act (pp. 102-106). New York: Random House.

12.

Ellison, R. (1966). The crisis of optimism. In R. Ellison , W. M. Young, Jr. , & H. Gans (Eds.), The city in crisis (pp. 6-26). New York: Current Educational Fund Publications.

13.

Ellison, R. (1987). Perspective of literature. In Going to the territory (321-338). New York: Vintage Books.

14.

Ellison, R. (2000). Juneteenth ( J. F. Callahan , Ed.). New York: Vintage Books.

15.

Faulkner, W. (1959). Light in August. New York: Random House, Inc.

16.

Fiedler, A. L. (1985). Come back to the raft ag’in Huck honey. In M. T. Inge (Ed.), Huck Finn among the critics (pp. 93-101). Frederick, MD: University Publications of America.

17.

Gates, H. L., Jr. (1987). Figures in black. Words, signs and the “racial” self. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press.

18.

Gates, H. L., Jr. (1988). The signifying monkey. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press.

19.

Howe, I. (1982). A margin of hope. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

20.

Hughes, L. (1994a). I, too. In A. Rampersad & D. Roessel (Eds.), The collected poems of Langston Hughes (p. 46). New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

21.

Hughes, L. (1994b). Mother to son. In A. Rampersad & D. Roessel (Eds.), The collected poems of Langston Hughes (p. 30). New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

22.

Isaacs, H. R. (1960). Five writers and their African ancestors. The Phylon Quarterly, 12, 317-336.

23.

Jackson, L. (2002). Emergence of genius. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

24.

Jones, L. (1963). Blues people. New York: Morrow Quill Paperbacks.

25.

Melville, H. (1957). Moby Dick. San Francisco: Rhinehart Press.

26.

Richards, B. (1986). A Black woman speaks. In M. B. Wilkerson (Ed.), 9 plays by Black women (pp. 33-39). New York: New American Library.

27.

Twain, M. (1986). The adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Bantam Books.

Ralph Ellison and the Paradox of Juneteenth

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References