Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man is one of the most acclaimed novels in the genre African-American literature. Although most scholars study Invisible Man for its motifs and extended metaphors regarding the struggles that African-Americans faced in post-slavery America and identity, some choose to analyze it for its writing style. One such scholar was literary critic Robert Boone. In Boone’s commentary on Invisible Man, he suggests that “to the extent that Ellison’s style is directly imitative, it is Faulknerian,” citing both syntax and portrayal of Southern life as commonalities. After examining characteristics of Faulkner’s literature, namely complex sentence structure as well as grotesque portrayal sex in the South, and comparing them to the sentence structure and sex the South as conveyed in Invisible Man, one can deem Ellison’s writing style as Faulknerian.
One of the defining hallmarks of Faulkner’s writing is his complex sentence structure. Unlike his contemporary Ernest Hemingway, Faulkner crafted unnecessarily lengthy sentences which often contained multiple subordinate clauses, colons/semicolons, and/or multiple prepositional phrases. The following sentence from Faulkner’s Light in August showcases all of the aforementioned Faulknerian syntactic and punctuation characteristics:
It halted only long enough to disgorge the two dogs: a thousand costly tons of intricate and curious metal glaring and crashing up and into an almost shocking silence filled with the puny sounds of men, to vomit two gaunt and cringing phantoms whose droopeared and mild faces gazed with sad abjectness about the weary, pale faces of men who had not slept very much since night before last,ringing them about with something terrible and eager and impotent. (120)
When Faulkner was asked about the prolix nature of his writing, he said that the lengthiness served a distinct purpose: “to put the whole history of a human heart on a pin” (Faulkner “Interview by Arthur Davis”). That being said, Faulkner attempted to capture an object’s or person’s complete essence in each moment of a story by getting his past and possibly his future into the instant in which he acts. For example, consider the first sentence of Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”:
WHEN Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old man-servant–a combined gardener and cook–had seen in at least ten years. (“A Rose for Emily”)
In a few short lines, Faulkner is able to tell the reader the current state of Emily, her past, and provide insight into her relationship with the townspeople. The excess of words serves to overemphasize the fact that his language can bring to light the raw, nameless essence of a character.
Additionally, the complexity of a Faulknerian sentence correlates to the psychological stress an individual is experiencing. In “Barn Burning,” Faulkner’s sentence complexity dramatically increases (starts using more subordinate clauses, participles, and repeated verbs) towards the end as the protagonist, Sarty Snopes, becomes gradually more concerned about his father’s wellbeing (Faulkner Barn Burning 12). To convey the insecurity and stress, Faulkner repeats verbs and increases the number of participle and subordinate clauses in a sentence.
Like Faulkner, Ellison uses lengthy sentences filled with colons/semicolons, subordinate clauses, and prepositional phrases to capture the essence of Invisible Man (IM). For instance, when IM realizes how the day’s events with Mr. Norton to the countryside and the Golden Day had transpired, he states:
I wanted to stop the car and talk with Mr. Norton, to beg his pardon for what he had seen; to plead and show him tears, unashamed tears like those of a child before his parent; to denounce all we’d seen and heard; to assure him that far from being like any of the people we had seen, I hated them, that I believed in the principles of the Founder with all my heart and soul, and that I believed in his own goodness and kindness in extending the hand of his benevolence to helping us poor, ignorant people out of the mire and darkness. (Ellison 77)
Making use of two semi-colons, eight subordinate clauses, and ten prepositional phrases, Ellison is able to portray the subservient, gullible, faceless essence of the IM. The overabundance of words aids in emphasizing the IM’s eloquence and his sentiments of sorrow. Moreover, the complexity of the sentence adds to the psychological stress which the IM is feeling. In the quote above, the IM’s mood becomes increasingly upset up until the point he is lauding the white man and casting himself under a shadow of shame. The sentence manages to reinforce this increased complexity through its increasingly complex word choice and phrasing.
Faulkner’s short stories are known for depicting the grotesque or “irregular” nature of Southern life with regards to sexual life. Essentially, the aforementioned grotesque nature encompasses any sexual relations not between a married couple. In a “Rose for Emily,” Faulkner forms a story about a necrophiliac who fornicates with her deceased husband for years after his death. In Mosquitoes, Faulkner narrates about a four-day excursion on a yacht off the coast of New Orleans which “is a site of sexual masquerade and activities of the sort” (Kartiganer &Abadie 124). Although, Faulkner never explicitly states that such behavior is bad, it can be discerned from other character’s perspective, it is frowned upon.
Ellison too portrays the grotesque nature of sex in the South in Invisible Man. When IM and Mr. Norton hear the life story of Jim Trueblood, they learn of Jim’s dream and one-night stand with his daughter which led to her impregnation (Ellison 32). Jim goes onto to tell of the ramifications of his incestuous relationship with his daughter including estrangement from Southern society. Although Mr. Norton, a Northerner, is compelled to help, the Southern-raised IM fails to pity him labeling his as a “no-good bastard,” showing his contempt towards the man who acted indecently (Ellison 44).
As evidenced by Faulkner and Ellison’s similar sentence structures and portrayal of sex in Southern life, one can lend support to Robert Boone’s conception that Ellison’s writing style in Invisible Man as Faulknerian. Ellison’s mimicry of Faulkner’s writing style is not an anomaly in the world of literature. Ever since the ancient Greeks, writers have adapted each other’s styles for their own purposes. Perhaps, Ellison used Faulkner’s writing style to reach out to a larger audience. Maybe, he used Faulkner’s writing style to emphasize the Invisible Man’s thoughts to the reader.
Bibliography
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Random House, 1947. Print.
Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” A Rose for Emily. University of Virginia, n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.
Faulkner, William . Interview by Arthur Davis. Personal interview. 13 May 1957.
Faulkner, William. Light in August: The Corrected Text. New York: Vintage, 1990. Print.
Kartiganer, Donald M., and Ann J. Abadie. Faulkner and gender. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1996. Print.
Norchott-Mahany, Bernard. “Classic Review: Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner.” The Kansas City Public Library. N.p., 21 Sept. 2011. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.
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