During the late 1940s and early 1950s many African Americans were subjected to racism in America. Blacks during this time had few opportunities and were constantly ridiculed by whites based on the color of their skin. Although numerous amounts of blacks ridiculed themselves and their race based on the color of their skin. Many writers have tried to portray this time period using various literary devices such as theme. Ralph Ellison is one of those great writers who perfectly represented America in the 1940s and 1950s. It shows the life of an average black man during that time period through his narrator in The Invisible Man. In Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison uses symbolism, themes, and conflict to portray black and white racism in America in the late 1940s and early 1950s. In The Invisible Man Ralph Ellison uses a great deal of symbolism. As the poem The Caged Bird sings. Ellison compares the situation in the narrator's life to the poem In the Caged Bird. Just like the caged bird, the narrator feels caged and trapped. The narrator is trapped within a certain social class and how white society expects him to behave and how he should behave towards his fellow blacks. For example, Trueblood receives money and kindness from white people after hearing his story of him raping his daughter because of a dream. Although the black community mocked him, white people were interested in the story and showed him a kind of praise. Wanting black people to behave more animalistic and ignorant rather than “rational” like them. Another form of symbolism must be the narrator's bus trip to New York. He hears a song he knows being sung about a robin being tied up and plucked. The narrator compares...... middle of paper......re real problems in Harlem, but rather a pretty picture for the audience. During the late 1940s and early 1950s many African Americans were subjected to racism in America. Blacks during this time had few opportunities and were constantly ridiculed by whites based on the color of their skin. Although numerous amounts of blacks ridiculed themselves and their race based on the color of their skin. Many writers have tried to portray this time period using various literary devices such as theme. Ralph Ellison is one of those great writers who perfectly represented America in the 1940s and 1950s. It shows the life of an average black man during that time period through his narrator in The Invisible Man. In Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison uses symbolism, themes, and conflict to portray black and white racism in America in the late 1940s and early 1950s..