The Invisible Man

The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison fallows the story of a unseen narrator, who is "invisible" not from affliction as he says but because people refuse to see him. Through the story he goes through outrages events, gives speeches, and learns the power in being invisible. My big question is asking whether their was free will and action or if the narrator was forced through fate and destiny to travel the path he traveled. I went back and forth on this big question for this book. The path was to paved, it appeared to be set before him. As if the scenery never existed until he turned the corner and it suddenly jumped up so he wouldn't see the empty nothingness before him. This is why I believe it was fate at first, the things happened because they were destined to happen, the point I struggled with was his growth. The invisible narrator did not grow in the normal step stair pattern often used with fate based stories. Instead of learning one lesson and now gaining that trait never to be lost. It felt much more humane, that he like all of us forget valuable lessons from time to time or in the heat of the moment. Overall I have landed on the thought that it was destiny, the events were to fantastical and everything just happened to propel him to the next stage.