This podcast episode is from Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man introduces the nameless narrator and his concept of invisibility, which he attributes to others' refusal to truly perceive him, seeing only stereotypes or their own projections. The narrative recounts a chaotic "battle royal" where blindfolded Black men are forced to fight for the entertainment of white men, culminating in a scramble for electrified coins. The text then follows the narrator's experiences at a Southern college, his disastrous interaction with a white trustee, Mr. Norton, at a raucous establishment called the Golden Day, and his subsequent expulsion orchestrated by the manipulative college president, Dr. Bledsoe. Sent to New York with deceptive letters of recommendation, the narrator encounters various characters, including the street vendor Peter Wheatstraw, the potentially helpful young Mr. Emerson, and a hostile union representative named Lucius Brockway, all while navigating the complexities of Northern urban life and racism, leading him to an epiphany about his own unseen status.