RETHINKING THE AFRICAN AMERICAN ANTI-RACISM STRUGGLE IN THE LIGHT OF RALPH ELLISON’S INVISIBLE MAN

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Résumé

This study investigates the pivotal and heart-breaking issue of racism
and racial relations in the United States, mainly opposing the white and
black components of the nation. It shows that despite the good principles of
freedom, equality and justice for which the country praises itself, on the one
hand, and the long and multiform struggle against racism, on the other hand,
a post-racial U.S. is nothing but a dream, as voiced Martin Luther King, Jr.
in his 1963 speech in Washington (2014). This undeniably poses a
challenge that this work aims to take up, relying on Ralph Ellison‘s Invisible
Man. It shows how the novel, intended as a protest novel of another kind,
vividly illustrates the African American struggle for a society free of racial
prejudice. Marked by many a setback constituting after all a ground for
maturity and enlightenment, the story of the novel‘s hero offers insights for
making the fight against racism effective. The subject matter being
historical and sociological, the study is supported respectively by historical
facts and a theoretical framework constituted of the critical race theory
(CRT) and the theory of critical consciousness (CC).

Mots-clés

Racism, African American, prejudice, setbacks, enlightenment, Black Lives Matter Movement.