1940s 20thcentury african-american african-american-author african-american-culture african-american-experience african-american-identity african-american-literature african-american-protagonist africanamerican africanamericans alienation ambiguity america american-dream american-history american-identity american-literature army army-life art assimilation autobiographical betrayal bildungsroman biography black-culture black-experience black-identity black-literature black-power blacks blindness blues brotherhood civil-rights civil-rights-movement civilrights civilrightsmovements civilrightsworkers classic coming-of-age conformity corruption courage cultural-assimilation cultural-criticism cultural-heritage cultural-identity death deception dehumanization destiny discipline discrimination discriminationinhousing disillusionment double-consciousness drama dreams duty dystopia empowerment equality exile existentialism experience fiction forbidden-love freedom friendship gritty harlem harlem-renaissance hawaii hawaiian-islands historical-fiction history honolulu honor iconic identity identity-crisis individual-vs-society individualism individuality inequality infidelity injustice intellectualism invisibility invisibility-metaphor invisible invisible-identity invisible-man isolation japanese-attack jazz jazz-music journey lawandlegislation leadership life literature loss loss-of-identity love love-affairs loyalty marginalization marginalized masculinity military military-life mississippi modernism narrator national-book-award novel oppression pacific-theater passion pearl-harbor personal-freedom personal-narrative philosophy political politics politicsandgovernment power power-dynamics power-struggle prejudice protagonist protest pulitzer-prize quest race race-relations racediscrimination racerelations racial-discrimination racial-identity racial-inequality racial-oppression racial-prejudice racial-segregation racial-stereotypes racism ralph-ellison rebellion redemption relationships religiousaspects resilience resistance romance sacrifice search-for-meaning searching-for-identity 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 socialconditions societal-expectations society soldier soldiers southern-gothic southern-united-states southernstates stereotypes struggle subjugation subversion surreal surrealism survival symbolism the-american-dream tragedy underground unitedstates unseen urban-life violence war war-novel white-supremacy world-war-ii