Folklore was how Negroes dealt with their world. They identified themselves as the characters in the well-known folk tales similar to how the narrator of Invisible Man identifies himself as characters such as Jack the Rabbit and Jack the Bear. These characters come from the stories known by the name "Uncle Remus tales" and were remade by Walt Disney in the movie "Song of the South".
Folklore in Invisible Man
- Jack the Bear
- Buckeye Rabbit / Br'er Rabbit
- The Tortoise with the Pretty Daughter
Folklore in Invisible Man
- Jack the Bear
- Buckeye Rabbit / Br'er Rabbit
- The Tortoise with the Pretty Daughter
Jack the Bear:
Jack the Bear is a slow-moving and slow-thinking character. When the narrator of Invisible Man references Jack the Bear, he is referring to his life in his hole: his "hibernation". The narrator, having escaped the bear's den that is Harlem, now hibernates in his own den in which he is located at the beginning of the novel and at the end. |
"I say this to assure you that it is incorrect to assume that, because I am invisible and live in a hole, I am dead. I am neither dead nor in a state of suspended animation. Call me Jack-the-Bear, for I am in a state of hibernation” (Ellison 6). |
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The Tortoise with the Pretty Daughter
In Invisible Man, the narrator is sent to a vendor of yams. He comes to this man and speaks with him about yams and they “ain’t none of them binding ones… these here is real, sweet, yaller yams”(Ellison 263). While the Invisible Man eats the yam, he is "overcome with such a surge of homesickness that [he] turned away to keep [his] control... [he] walked along, munching the yam, just as suddenly overcome by an intense feeling of freedom"(Ellison 264). He feels free with these yams and is reminded of his home. Of which home is he reminded though? The South or maybe Africa?
Yams go all the way back to African folk tales and the story of “The Tortoise with the Pretty Daughter” comes to mind. In the story, yams are called "foo-foo" and they represent a treat to the people for the happy marriage of the Prince and the Tortoise’s daughter. “A great feast was then given which lasted for fifty days, and the king killed five cows and gave all the people plenty of foo-foo”(Dayrell 1). Yams were used for celebration and happiness and that is how they made Invisible Man feel.
In Invisible Man, the narrator is sent to a vendor of yams. He comes to this man and speaks with him about yams and they “ain’t none of them binding ones… these here is real, sweet, yaller yams”(Ellison 263). While the Invisible Man eats the yam, he is "overcome with such a surge of homesickness that [he] turned away to keep [his] control... [he] walked along, munching the yam, just as suddenly overcome by an intense feeling of freedom"(Ellison 264). He feels free with these yams and is reminded of his home. Of which home is he reminded though? The South or maybe Africa?
Yams go all the way back to African folk tales and the story of “The Tortoise with the Pretty Daughter” comes to mind. In the story, yams are called "foo-foo" and they represent a treat to the people for the happy marriage of the Prince and the Tortoise’s daughter. “A great feast was then given which lasted for fifty days, and the king killed five cows and gave all the people plenty of foo-foo”(Dayrell 1). Yams were used for celebration and happiness and that is how they made Invisible Man feel.