Transcript File

“Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison
Music
Prologue
• Louis Armstrong’s “What Did I Do to be so
Black and Blue?”
- Symbolizes the struggles African Americans
were going through during the time of the
novel
“ My only sin is my skin. What did I do to be
so black and blue?”
Chapter 1
• In the Battle Royale, a white woman danced to
the rhythm of a clarinet.
• This example is of the very famous song “Sing,
Sing, Sing” performed by Benny Goodman ( A
famous clarinet player)
Chapter 2
• Trueblood sings the blues to comfort himself
• This is “Today I Sing the Blues” by Aretha
Franklin
Chapter 3
• Composer at Golden day plays a selfcomposed piece, out of tune.
- Could symbolize the patients at Golden Day
Chapter 4
• Dr. Bledsoe mentions that his favorite spiritual
is “Live-a-humble”
Chapter 5
• Dvorak’s “New World Symphony”
- Barbee and Bledsoe’s speeches
Chapter11
• While IM is in the cubicle for his electro-shock
therapy, he plays Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony
in his head.
Chapter 14
• Mary sings “Back Water Blues”
-Soothed IM
Chapter 16
• “John Brown’s Body”
• John Brown, a white man, fought for the
slaves’ freedom.
•
…and he looks like
•
Charlie Sheen
• The rest of “Invisible Man” mentions other
rhymes and short verses from songs
“Don't come early in the morning
Neither in the heat of the day
But come in the sweet cool of the
Evening and wash my sins away...” (Ch 18)
"Bread and Wine,
Bread and Wine,
Your cross ain't nearly so
Heavy as mine...“ (Ch. 20)