Invisible Man: Prologue-Chapter 6

by Ralph Ellison
In Ralph Ellison's classic novel, a nameless narrator struggles with his sense of identity in a world that treats him like he is invisible.

Learn these word lists for the novel: Prologue-Chapter 6, Chapters 7-11, Chapters 12-19, Chapter 20-Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. ingenuity
    the power of creative imagination
    Yet when you have lived invisible as long as I have you develop a certain ingenuity.
  2. imperceptible
    impossible or difficult to sense
    Instead of the swift and imperceptible flowing of time, you are aware of its nodes, those points where time stands still or from which it leaps ahead.
  3. humility
    a lack of arrogance or false pride
    On my graduation day I delivered an oration in which I showed that humility was the secret, indeed, the very essence of progress.
  4. melee
    a noisy riotous fight
    I played one group against the other, slipping in and throwing a punch then stepping out of range while pushing the others into the melee to take the blows blindly aimed at me.
  5. fervor
    the state of being emotionally aroused and worked up
    I spoke automatically and with such fervor that I did not realize that the men were still talking and laughing until my dry mouth, filling up with blood from the cut, almost strangled me.
  6. submissive
    inclined or willing to give in to orders or wishes of others
    Some were hostile, some cringing, some horrified; some, who when among themselves were most violent, now appeared as submissive as children.
  7. repress
    conceal or hide
    Already he's learned to repress not only his emotions but his humanity.
  8. amorphous
    having no definite form or distinct shape
    To you he is a mark on the score-card of your achievement, a thing and not a man; a child, or even less — a black amorphous thing.
  9. pragmatist
    a person who takes a practical approach to problems
    He believes in that great false wisdom taught slaves and pragmatists alike, that white is right.
  10. unambiguous
    having or exhibiting a single clearly defined meaning
    And in the chapel on Sunday evenings upon the platform, hadn't he always taught us to live content in our place in a thousand unambiguous words?
  11. impunity
    exemption from punishment or loss
    I too had touched a white man today and I felt that it had been disastrous, and I realized then that he was the only one of us whom I knew — except perhaps a barber or a nursemaid — who could touch a white man with impunity.
  12. intercede
    act between parties with a view to reconciling differences
    I wondered to which of them I might go to intercede for me with Dr. Bledsoe, but within myself I knew that there was no one.
  13. rebuke
    an act or expression of criticism and censure
    I sat thinking of the dread possibility of having to leave all this, of being expelled; imagining the return home and the rebukes of my parents.
  14. formulate
    put into words or an expression
    I kept trying to formulate what I would say to Dr. Bledsoe, and the boys must have turned into their building, for suddenly finding myself outside the gates of the campus and heading down the highway, I turned and ran back to the building.
  15. surreal
    resembling a dream
    Trueblood, Mr. Norton, Dr. Bledsoe and the Golden Day swept around my mind in a mad surreal whirl.
Created on Mon Oct 07 18:58:56 EDT 2013 (updated Tue Jul 01 18:21:20 EDT 2025)

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