ANTECEDENT TWO

Even upon its release, Invisible Man has been the center of great controversy and debate. One of the largest conversations around the novel was its utilization of black trauma. Stories about black experience and trauma began as a lesson that "[African-Americans] are not wholly created and determined by forces controlled by the white world." (Podhoretz 50)

While the use of black trauma in this novel was successful at shaking non-Black readers awake to the atrocities of being Black in American society, it was unsuccessful in giving female charcaters the same humanity. "The first female character we meet... is [a] blonde nude dancer." (Sylvander 78) The way women in the novel are near non-existent - and when they are present, only serve the male protagonist's plotline - many have begun to wonder if women are represented here as "human or natural resources." (79)

While Ellison's Invisible Man made leaps and bounds for societal change as it exposed the true place of African-American citizens within society, it lacks in its representation of women.

Topdog/Underdog - while written by a female playwright - is also a piece that has little to no mention of female characters. The two works are examinations of black trauma in different time periods. Both have us watch the trauma unfold through the lens of African-American men, but seem to leave women in the dust as a whole.

As Invisible Man is an antecedent to Topdog/Underdog, it is also a perfect reminder that as we move the ball forward, we should keep in which parts of the black epxerience are getting put onstage, and what that suggests about the black community to non-Black audience members.