Abstract
Abstract: Is Invisible Man a sexist novel? Some critics have said so. I argue that reading Invisible Man solely with a focus on gender representation misses an ethically significant dynamic between Ralph Ellison's narrator and white women. Reading Invisible Man alongside Iris Murdoch's moral philosophy reveals a shared emphasis on cultivating attention to the realities of individuals by resisting fantasy. In viewing white women, the invisible man undergoes a Murdochian moral pilgrimage from fantasy to reality with courage, humility, and generosity. By situating this triumph within the American white supremacist patriarchy, Ellison corrects some of Murdoch's disengagement from politics.