"I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me." This sentence sets up this notion of the "Invisible " and "the blind" that seems to bear a thematic relevance throughout the prologue and the first chapter. The narrator is invisible because of his physical color. He describes a defined barrier that contradicts by simultaneously not being there and yet, in reality, existing. The "blind" see all that is in proximity and in a sense only what they choose to see. Blind seems to correspond with the dreamers and sleepwalkers that are later referenced.

An essential element of this piece is the voice of the narrator. The voice is conversational, direct, and intellectual. The syntax is inviting and unique. It's not a light, easy read. The candid voice welcomes consideration, and as a reader I found myself stopping to reread sections in an attempt to take it all in.

The value of the plot does not rely only on action; it is about insight and reflection. The mugging couldn't achieve the same depth without being heightened by reflection. "You ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world, that you're a part of all the sound and anguish, and you strike out with your fists, you curse and swear and make them recognize you." This phrase hurts as well as working to heighten the plot. It would be easier to view the narrator as a "mugger", another bad guy. But, as a reader I'm forced into his pain and my own irrational rationalization. Is every human mind so quick to satisfy justification? It seems that I want to understand it all, and Ralph Ellison is going to challenge that. How valuable.

1,369 bulbs make a lot of light. I love the strangeness of this. It seems relevant and powerful that in his hole he has created a haven where he can exist in pure unrestrained light. The narrator compares himself to Edison and Franklin in his ingenuity. Of it he says, "Light confirms my reality, gives birth to my form." That statement suggests a physical pleasure of actually being illuminated, but also suggests a greater meaning of power. Perhaps, being able to accomplish something like that, of having the electric company notice him, even as only numbers, lost watts, is satisfying.