The "Progressive" Woman...? Ew and ugh why did you do this Ellison. Or is there an underlying message here?
Similar to Native Son's depiction of women characters and their roles in the main character's life, Ellison portrays women as sexual objects who are (to say the least) not as smart as the men and who are needy. Their characters are created in relation to the main male character, or another male character. We only hear of Sybil when the narrator is trying to get some more information about the Brotherhood from the married woman, and of course, it turns into drinking and physical intimacy because she's a woman. We also see this when the narrator goes to talk about the "woman" question in Harlem, even though he doesn't even really know what he's talking about. He ends up having an affair with one of the women when she seductively asks him some rather vague questions and pretends to be interested. Even in a small encounter, when a woman thought the narrator was Rhinehart, she grabbed his arm as if she were his partner and was described as smelling a lot like Christmas perfume. Ellison doesn't mention a whole lot of (young, since I wouldn't include Mary as she wasn't really a sexual figure, but more of a motherly figure) women in the novel, but when he does, it tends to be very uncomfortably stereotypical.
I don't know much about Ellison's personal views, but looking only at the book, a reader may very much assume that Ellison is very ignorant about women's rights himself, and stereotypes women a lot. However, when we were in class the other day, someone brought up a really interesting point: maybe Ellison is overexaggerating this stereotypical physical woman to make the point that things shouldn't be this way. Ellison might be putting women in this role to show how outrageous these portrayals really are. I don't know if I'm putting it the right way, but what do you guys think?
I think Sybil's character is especially telling of the way that Ellison treats women in his book. She's portrayed as clingy, needy, and what was most appalling to me -- she's dying to be raped?? The fact that one of the most significant female characters in the book is characterized by her fantasies sexual violence enacted on her is absolute bizarre and uncomfortable for me. That entire scene was just a mess and I really can't figure out what Ellison was trying to say.
ReplyDeleteI was also really uncomfortable with the character of Sybil. Honestly it worried me to have a scene like the one she was in written in a well-known novel. I feel like some sick people could use her scene as a justification for committing sexual violence which is just horrible to think about. Even if Ellison is trying to make a point in some twisted way, I don't think he did a good job of it. As a female, I definitely wasn't preaching along with anything he was laying down!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything said thus far. I think with the Women Question when the Brotherhood sent him off, Ellison was making fun of how the Brotherhood was educating women. But then after that, I didn't view his portrayal of women as making a point. Before I was a little unsure, and then after Sybil, I was not happy with Ellison. It made me very uncomfortable and insulted to see a female portrayed in this way. The only female who I liked was Mary even though the narrator didn't view her favorably (which makes yet another point about Ellison with women).
ReplyDeleteYeah, I feel like it is vague as to whether or not Ellison is, by exaggerating and "caricaturizing" the female characters, making a point about societal stereotypes or just being ignorant. But even if he was trying to make a point, like Emma said, I don't think he was very effective because it was so unclear as to what he was doing.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Sybil wanted to be raped i think was Ellison trying to show that the narrator is seen by Sybil as some "dangerous black man" and that the narrator is invisible even in bed but still, Sybil's scenes were completely weird and frankly unnecessary since Ellison could have portrayed the narrator's invisibility in other ways.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of what you said, except I think he even treats Mary pretty terribly. I mean, the narrator is taken care of by her, recovers in her care, arguable first comes to consciousness of his situation in her home, yet he completely casts her aside, seems ungrateful for her, she's used mostly as a jumping -off place, a plot device; instead of as a whole and complete person. None of the women in the book are even hinted at being "visible," and I think it's gross and there's no way Ellison was doing it as social critique-- it's just his own blind spot.
ReplyDeleteI think you pose a very interesting question, and I'm not sure if there is a correct answer, as he never addressed this aspect of his novel in a later essay. However, his portrayals of women are so overwhelmingly negative and stereotypical that I would like to think that this was purposeful, to make an overarching point. He uses so much allegory throughout the book that it would surprise me if he literally assumes these stereotypes.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Sybil is this distuniglishly chariciturized, but yeah I do feel like Ellison is making a point about the myth of black men who rape white women. It seems like he's trying to show how white women buy into the same racist ideas as white men, even if they are similarly invisible to all men.
ReplyDeleteI also really find the portrayal, or lack thereof, of women in the novel pretty disappointing. But it's Ellison's blindspot, although he's not intentionally discluding women. But on the other hand he does seem deeply aware about the difference between "the woman question" and "the race question", and I think he's intentionally showing how these are completely disconnected. And by making all of the white female characters in the novel sort of bizarre, hypersexualized, super racist but progressive at the same time, he's trying to show the disconnectedness between race and gender at this time; all of these women are just foreign to him. And I think his blindspot is really in not having strong female black character (like Bella said, Mary is just a symbol/plot point), which unintentionally shows his point again.
I agree that Ellison's portrayal's of women are extremely uncomfortable stereotypes, but given that the title of the book itself is named Invisible MAN, and I don't read them as being that way to critique such portrayals. The point of these characters seems to be to show a different relationship between white men and black women to counteract prevailing stereotypes, and Ellison probably just doesn't recognize or doesn't care that he's being sexist at the same time, the women are (unfortunately) invisible to him.
ReplyDeleteEllison does indeed paint some unsavory depictions of female characters in the book. Either out of neglect or purposefully, he doesn't have any strong female characters. I do find that Sybil's character does have somewhat of a purpose in showing how African American men can sometimes be fetishized, but having her be one of the only female characters does subtract from the overall depiction of women. Regardless, an absence of strong defining women is unsettling. Ellison could have extended the invisible argument to women and women's rights, but none of his characters explicitly describe that.
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