adultery african-american african-american-culture african-american-experience african-american-identity african-american-literature african-american-protagonist alienation ambiguity american-dream american-history american-identity american-literature american-society army army-life art assimilation autobiographical beach bestseller betrayal bildungsroman black-culture black-experience black-identity black-literature blindness blues brotherhood civil-rights civil-rights-movement class-struggle classic coming-of-age complexity conformity contemporary corruption courage cultural-alienation cultural-assimilation cultural-criticism cultural-heritage cultural-identity death dehumanization destiny detective discipline discrimination disillusionment double-consciousness drama dreams duty dystopia empowerment england equality exile existentialism fate fiction forbidden-love forbidden-romance freedom friendship friendships general greatbritain gritty hardship harlem harlem-renaissance hawaii hawaiian-islands historical historical-fiction history honolulu honor iconic identity identity-crisis individualism individuality inequality infantry infidelity injustice invisibility invisibility-metaphor invisible invisible-identity invisible-man isolation japanese-attack jazz jazz-music journey largetypebooks leadership life literary-fiction literaturainglesa literature loss loss-of-identity love love-affairs loyalty marginalization masculinity military military-life modernism mystery narrator national-book-award navy novel oppression pacific pacific-theater passion pearl-harbor personal-freedom personal-narrative philosophy political politics postmodernism power power-dynamics power-struggle prejudice protagonist protest pulitzer-prize quest race race-relations racial-discrimination racial-identity racial-inequality racial-oppression racial-prejudice racial-stereotypes racism ralph-ellison rebellion redemption regency relationships resilience resistance romance sacrifice search-for-meaning segregation self-discovery self-empowerment social-class social-commentary social-conformity social-criticism social-equality social-hierarchy social-inequality social-injustice social-invisibility social-isolation social-justice social-norms sociallifeandcustoms societal-expectations society soldier soldiers southern-gothic southern-united-states stereotype stereotypes struggle subversion surrealism survival suspense symbolism the-american-dream tragedy underground united-states-army urban-life violence war war-novel white-supremacy world-war-ii