Famous First and Last Lines

"I am an invisible man."

This quote is from the novel Invisible Man written by Ralph Ellison in 1952. Ellison was born in Oklahoma City on March 1, 1914. His famous novel The Invisible Man was his first published novel and is still well known today. He had a good childhood and grew up to be an educated man. Ralph Ellison died on April 16, 1994 of pancreatic cancer. The Invisible Man is about a young black man who is hiding from the world. He is a great speaker who is invited to speak in front of a group of people and is rewarded with a scholarship after being embarrassed in front of everyone during the battle royal. He goes to college where his life is changed after an unfortunate event takes place and he is harshly judged by the president of the college. He then leaves the college and finds work in the city. He is involved in an accident at work and is tortured while being treated by medical personal. He then finds a women and they join the Brotherhood. However he is once again traded by the Brotherhood and goes underground.   

Although this book does sound very interesting, I would not like to read it. Based off of the plot summaries that I have read, it seems very confusing and depressing. This young innocent man is put through so much throughout his life; it seems as though he just cannot get a brake. It is a significant novel in history and would be purposeful for me to read but it is not my type of book.











"She sat staring with her eyes shut, into his eyes, and felt as if she had finally got to the beginning of something she couldn't begin, and she saw him moving farther and farther away, farther and farther into the darkness until he was the pin point of life."

This quote is from the novel Wise Blood by Flannery O' Connor. The author was born on March 25, 1925 in Savannah Georgia. She was an educated women who wrote Wise Blood in 1952. She died from lupus on August 3, 1964, she was 34 years old. The novel is about a blind man who goes missing and is found by police man and taken to his landlord. However, he died in the police car. The police man laid him on the landlord's bed and they never even realized that he was dead. The story speaks of what happens between the landlord and the dead blind man.

I personally would probably not like to read this book. Again, it just is not something that would interest me. It does sound interesting enough but it

also seems to be something that would not be a page tuner for me.