Invisible
Man es una novela de Ralph Ellison publicada en 1952.
Trata muchos de los temas que enfrentan los
afros americanos a principios del siglo
veinte, incluyendo el nacionalismo
negro, la relación entre la identidad
negra y el Marxismo y las políticas
raciales reformistas de Booker T. Washington, así como temas de individualidad e identidad personal.
Más abajo ponemos unos párrafos de Invisible Man,
en inglés, y encontramos el
significado de battle royal.
“I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful harm of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself…”
Paragraphs
It goes a long way back, some twenty years. All my
life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to
tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in
contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naive. I was looking for
myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could
answer. It took me a long time and much painful harm of my expectations to
achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am
nobody but myself. But first I had to discover that I am an invisible man!
And yet I am no freak of nature, nor of history. I
was in the cards, other things having been equal (or unequal) eighty-five years
ago. I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only
ashamed of myself for having at one time been ashamed. About eighty-five years
ago they were told that they were free, united with others of our country in
everything related to the common good, and, in everything social, separate like
the fingers of the hand. And they believed it. They exulted in it. They stayed
in their place, worked hard, and brought up my father to do the same. But my
grandfather is the one. He was an odd old guy, my grandfather, and I am told I
take after him. It was he who caused the trouble. On his deathbed he called my
father to him and said, "Son, after I'm gone I want you to keep up the
good fight. I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor
all my born days, a spy in the enemy's country ever since I give up my gun back
in the Reconstruction. Live with your head in the lion's mouth. I want you to
overcome 'em with yeses, undermine 'em with grins, agree 'em to death and destruction,
let 'em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open." They thought the
old man had gone out of his mind. He had been the most gentle of men.The
younger children were rushed from the room, the shades drawn and the flame of
the lamp turned so low that it sputtered on the wick like the old man's
breathing. "Learn it to the children," he whispered fiercely; then he
died.
But my folks were more alarmed over his last words
than over his dying. It was as though he had not died at all, his words caused
so much anxiety. I was warned emphatically to forget what he had said and,
indeed, this is the first time it has been mentioned outside the family circle.
It had a tremendous effect upon me, however. I could never be sure of what he
meant. Grandfather had been a quiet old man who never made any trouble, yet on
his deathbed he had called himself a traitor and a spy, and he had spoken of
his patience as a dangerous activity. It became a constant puzzle which lay
unanswered in the back of my mind. And whenever things went well for me I
remembered my grandfather and felt guilty and uncomfortable. It was as though I
was carrying out his advice in spite of myself. And to make it worse, everyone
loved me for it. I was praised by the most lily-white men of the town. I was
considered an example of desirable conduct -- just as my grandfather had been.
And what puzzled me was that the old man had defined it as treachery. When I
was praised for my conduct I felt a guilt that in some way I was doing
something that was really against the wishes of the white folks, that if they
had understood they would have desired me to act just the opposite, that I
should have been in a bad temper and mean, and that that really would have been
what they wanted, even though they were fooled and thought they wanted me to
act as I did. It made me afraid that some day they would look upon me as a
traitor and I would be lost. Still I was more afraid to act any other way
because they didn't like that at all. The old man's words were like a curse. On
my graduation day I delivered an oration in which I showed that humility was
the secret, indeed, the very essence of progress. (Not that I believed this --
how could I, remembering my grandfather? -- I only believed that it worked.) It
was a great success. Everyone praised me and I was invited to give the speech
at a gathering of the town's leading white citizens. It was a triumph for our
whole community.
It was in the main ballroom of the leading hotel.
When I got there I discovered that it was on the occasion of a smoker, and I
was told that since I was to be there anyway I might as well take part in the battle royal to be fought by some of my schoolmates as part
of the entertainment. The battle royal came
first.
All of the town's big shots were there in their
tuxedoes, wolfing down the buffet foods, drinking beer and whiskey and smoking
black cigars. It was a large room with a high ceiling. Chairs were arranged in
neat rows around three sides of a portable boxing ring… (Invisible
Man by Ellison, Ralph)
Vocabulario
Battle royal:
a battle involving many combatants.
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Fuentes
Invisible Man,
Wikipedia
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