Vignettes in Invisible Man

The usage of vignettes in IM by Elision intrigues me. These window snippets of narrative time appear in Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as well. What is most fascinating is that both Thompson and Ellison are working with essentially anti-Horatio Algerian commentaries. They both represent the response to the false promises of the American Dream. Thompson finds his version of the American Dream in ruins at the center of gambling metropolis. Ellison finds his in basement in Harlem. Both characters descend into the belly of beast/hell on their epic quests of discovery. Both come away from their debacles with recreations of what was promised. Ellison in the important in terms of this class. Drawing upon ideas of individuality first aptly presented by William Blake, Ellison proclaims plurality as the answer to the lies of the American Dream. Thompson also suggests this with his heavy reliance upon “freak” culture. America’s identity defined as simply “difference” or ‘One out of Many.”