The Emergence of the Invisible Man During the epilogue of The Invisible Man, the narrator's invisibility "put him in a hole" (Ellison 572). This leads the reader to ask himself questions. Why did the narrator go underground? Will he ever emerge? By examining his reasons for going underground, comparing and contrasting his emergence versus staying below, why he would like to emerge, and the importance of social responsibility, you will see that the Invisible Man will clearly emerge (Parker). Before he can determine whether or not the narrator will get out of his proverbial hole, he will have to evaluate the reasons why the Invisible Man went into hiding (Parker). The literal reason for his initial descent was to escape two white men who were chasing him. It is at this point that he says, "I felt myself falling down, down; a long drop landing on a load of coal... and I lay in the black darkness on the black coal that no longer flowed" (Ellison 565).If then the reader thinks back to the prologue, where the Invisible Man introduces his quarters, sees a certain irony. During the prologue the Invisible Man says, I doubt there's a brighter spot in all of New York...In my hole in the basement there's exactly 1,369 lights, I've wired the entire ceiling, every inch (Ellison 6-7) . This extreme lighting contrasts with the darkness and darkness shown in the hole he falls into. According to one critic, the brightness connotes an optimistic point of view which is new for Invisible Man (Parker). He believed that "[his invisibility] placed him in a hole or showed him the place where [he] was." (Ellison 572). He stayed in the cellar to get away from "everything" (Ellison 573), and to contemplate his life and his grandfather's words - to po...... middle of paper ......ng] the stale air out" (Ellison 581). This is where he wants to leave the past behind and move forward. He says: I'm shaking off the old skin and I'm going to leave it here in the hole. I'm coming out, no less invisible without it, but that comes out anyway. And I guess It's about damn time (Ellison 581)Bellow, "Man Underground" Review of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, June 1952 2001 Available: http://www.english.upeen.edu/~afilreis /50s/bellow. -on-ellison.htmlEllison, Ralph Invisible Man New York: The Modern Library, 1994.O'Meally, Robert, ed Essays on the Invisible Man. Cambridge New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.Parker, Robert Dale "Black Identity and the Marketplace of Masculinity" January 30, 2002 Available: http://www.english.cmu.edu/~ Parker/50s /ellison.htm