invisible man bildungsroman essay

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Ralph Ellison’s Trueblooded Bildungsroman

• Published: April 2004
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The several pages I wrote you by way of first draft have vanished. One usually feels either desolate or furious about such a slip, depending upon one’s inclination to think of the notes as either lost or pilfered. But in this case I am neither. For I had already decided on a new start, and my first effort hadn’t seemed quite right, anyhow. I had taken off from comments in my Rhetoric of Motives (1950) with reference to “the Negro intellectual, Ralph Ellison,” who said that Booker T. Washington “described the Negro community as a basket of crabs, wherein should one attempt to climb out, the others immediately pull him back.” I sized up the black man’s quandary thus: “Striving for freedom as a human being generically, he must do so as a Negro specifically. But to do so as a Negro is, by the same token, to prevent oneself from doing so in the generic sense; for a Negro could not be free generically except in a situation where the color of the skin had no more social meaning than the color of the eyes.” I moved on from there to a related “racist” problem, sans the accident of pigment, as dramatized in the role of Shakespeare’s Shylock; and then on to promises of being purely and simply a person (and visibly so) “thereby attaining the kind of transcendence at which all men aim, and at which the Negro spiritual had aimed, though there the aim was at the spiritual transcending of a predestined material slavery, whereas the Marxist ultimates allow for a material transcending of inferior status.”

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Invisible Man

Introduction of invisible man.

Ralph Ellison , one of the best authors wrote Invisible Man. It was published in 1952 and set new trends in the American African literature of those times. The novel created a furor, winning the National Book Award in 1953 and creating a niche among the best English fictional works of the previous century. Invisible Man outlines the story of an African American first-person narrator who narrates his college ordeal of the battle royal and the attitude of the white elite of the town toward the African American students. The novel instantly proved a hit and became the best among the 20 th century’s 100 novels and an excellent bildungsroman (a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist coming of age).

Summary of Invisible Man

The storyline presents an anonymous African American young man who happens to live in a basement with stolen electricity from the local grid station. Fed up of the discrimination, he thinks about social invisibility and ways to tackle it. He reflects upon his life as a teenager when living in a Southern town after winning a scholarship for an African American college. However, he has to participate in the battle royal to entertain the white dignitaries in order to receive that scholarship against other African American students.

It happens that he gets admission to that college and takes Mr. Norton, a trustee of that college, to the slave apartments beyond the campus area. By chance, he stops by the cabin owned by some Mr. Jim Trueblood who has already created a brouhaha by impregnating both his wife and daughter in his sleep. Norton shook by this scandalous issue, asks the narrator to find him a drink. The narrator hurriedly drives him to the nearest bar filled with prostitutes and mental patients. When they enter the bar, Mr. Norton confronts mentally unsound people and prostitutes enjoying life. The pandemonium forces him to take assistance from the orderly who, while saving Mr. Norton, is injured due to the melee created by the people. The young man, however, musters up the courage to pull Mr. Norton out of this mess and take him back to the college campus.

When he returns to the college, he finds Dr. Bledsoe, the president, fuming at his home for showing insolence in taking Mr. Norton to that part of the campus. Therefore, he thinks it better to expel the narrator who, though gets many recommendation letters from him to assist him in the job market yet he does not succeed in laying his hands upon anything. Later, he learns that Mr. Bledsoe has rather ruined his entire career in both education and the job market when it was revealed by young Mr. Emerson to the narrator that the so-called recommendation letters contained nothing good about the narrator, also stating that he’s unfit for work and had no intention of re-enrolling him in the college. So, the son of Mr. Emerson suggests he seek work in a paint factory where he works in different departments temporarily.

During that time, he comes across Lucius Brockway, a paranoid chief, in the boiler operating room. He comes to know that Lucius is obsessed with the idea that the young man is after his job. This mistrust widens the chasm between them, leading Brockway to exploit him and framing him in setting an explosion in the boiler section. When he comes to his senses after this episode, he finds himself in the hospital overhearing the doctors’ words that he was a mental patient and subject to shock treatment. mental patient.

When the young man gets out of the hospital he heads for Harlem . While walking on the streets of Harlem he faints and finds himself being taken in by a kind old-fashioned lady Mary Rambo. She cooks for him, nurses him back to health, and adopts him as her surrogate son. After this, he delivers an impassioned speech that incites the crowd to attack the law enforcement officials when an African American couple faces forced eviction. When he flees, the Brotherhood leader, Jack chases him and urges him to join hands with the group to help African Americans. His joining the Brotherhood helps him understand his background. This takes him into the politics of the Brotherhood but he comes to know that it is also a white ploy from Ras the exhorter, though he feels unconvinced. Yet he faces accusations of the same group for being over-ambitious. Again, he faces criticism when the narrator delivers a rousing speech at Tod Clifton’s funeral who went missing and was found selling dancing Sambo dolls on the street. He was killed by the police while resisting the arrest.

Suspecting a chase by the Ras’s men, the narrator disguises by wearing a hat and pair of sunglasses. As a result, he is repeatedly mistaken for a man named Rinehart. Soon unrest takes on Harlem and the riots break out which was detrimental to the Brotherhood to further its own aims. Seeing no way out, he joins the gang of looters to find now Ras, the Destroyer. When the young man sees Ras attacking him and urging others to lynch him, he rather attacks Ras and escapes into an underground coal bin. Although two white men catch and seal him in. Giving him enough time to ponder over the racism he has experienced. During his hibernation inside the coal bin, he states that the reason he is telling his story is that “who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?”. Finally, the narrator realizes that even an invisible man has a socially responsible role to play .

Major Themes in Invisible Man

• Invisibility: Invisible Man shows the assumed or real invisibility of the narrator who assumes that he is invisible because people have refused to see him. In the quest to prove his assumptions true, he takes up this unique identity through constant self-denial. Despite belonging to the Southern part, he covers his African heritage through passing in terms of habits and ideological thinking. Later, when he takes Rinehart as his name, he takes another turn in his life, finding that staying invisible has its bonuses. However, his meeting with that person shows him that he can pursue his goals without thinking about invisibility. It is because invisibility has robbed him of his identity that he vows to create.
• Racial Identity: The theme of racial identity emerges in the character of the anonymous narrator, who despite his efforts to stay invisible, wants some type of identity about his race and ethnicity. Wherever he goes, he needs something to make himself a figure to be reckoned with. People expect that he should either follow Booker T. Washington or Southern cultural-rich heritage instead of staying invisible. When he finally comes to terms with life, he feels that he must meet the expectations of the people to show his true Southern heritage.
• Slavery: Slavery and its baggage is another thematic strand that pervades the novel. Although the anonymous narrator demonstrates that by keeping himself invisible, he may escape this curse, it still stays with him as without this he does not have his true identity. The briefcase that he wins in the battle royal becomes a symbol of this heritage that he needs to carry with him. However, he is fed up with this symbolic heritage. He gets rid of it by the end and throws it away in return for some type of his self-identity.
• Racism: Racism and racial discrimination hamper the progress of an individual in a way that it becomes difficult for him to assume an identity. The anonymous narrator stays invisible for some time to see how the people around him react and later joins the Brotherhood to show his heritage and escape this racism. However, each time he finds that it is they, the African Americans, who should learn to behave. Finally, he seems that his attempt for his own definition would earn dividends if he has his self-identity as joining organizations is useless unless the person has his identity.
• Identity: Invisible Man presents the theme of identity that if a person has no self-identity, society disregards his role whether it is invisibility or some tangible role. When the narrator assumes his invisibility, he seems to have been lost in the maze of society but when he starts joining organizations, he sees that all organizations use individuals for their own interests. Even the Brotherhood does not holdup behind. Therefore, he comes to the point that he should have his own identity instead of staying in the assumed invisibility.
• Ideology: The anonymous narrator has shown through his story that organizational ideology cannot represent a multidimensional individual who has his own identity that does not merge in such monolithic entities. He has experienced it it is like him who has been unable to merge in the Brotherhood. Although Booker T. Washington’s ideological background and the relationship with the Brotherhood make it clear to him, he does not take these things at face value and seeks his identity to demonstrate his rich Southern heritage and ideology.
• Power : The novel shows that power lies in organizations, collections, and institutions. When the anonymous narrator stays alone , he thinks that his invisibility will bless him with some advantage yet he sees that the power lies somewhere else at the top. The same goes for the Brotherhood that works for the interests of the elite class, white, while the ideology of Booker T. Washinton, too, has been hijacked. Therefore, he comes to the conclusion that he needs power and for this needs his own identity.
• Stereotyping: Although the thematic strand of the limitations of race is too apparent, the anonymous narrator shows it amply when he could not progress through his invisibility as well as through his participation in the racial-specific organization. However, he soon comes to know that he belongs to the African American heritage and this stereotyping has hampered his progress not only in education but also in the job market, for he is expelled on the same ground on which his progress has been hampered through reference letters.
• Dreams : The anonymous narrator shows harboring several dreams when he vies to join the college, get admission but is expelled on the flimsy ground of taking Mr. Norton to the wrong place. His dreams further face downfall when the reference letters prove another roadblock. When he sees the vision of Armstrong, his slave memory takes it to another level, making him slave to his own past, destroying his dreams.

Major Characters in Invisible Man

• Narrator : The first-person narrator is the protagonist of the novel. He first gives a hint about himself and his invisibility in the Prologue and later narrates the events about his joining and leaving different groups such as the Brotherhood and others on one or the other pretexts. However, due to his African American lineage, he comes to the conclusion about the white supremacist superior structure they have built to keep them subservient, though, he believes in Armstrong and Booker T. Washington’s philosophy, yet he comes across as white conspiracy whatever he does or plans to do. His plan to study on scholarship fails when Mr. Norton creates issues for him after he takes him to the wrong places when taking to the areas beyond college premises . To keep his invisibility unharmed, he takes up different names during this entire process but finally comes to the conclusion that his underground life has not given him any benefit.
• Mr. Norton: This wealthy white trustee of the college, where the narrator gets admission with a scholarship, meets the narrator when he visits the college. The narrator takes him to the college visit driving his vehicle but mistakenly takes him to some places that he does not like despite his supposed kindness for the narrator and his race. Mr. Norton expels the narrator from the college as a part of revenge or disapproval against the narrator. Mr. Norton also demonstrates, his duplicity when he confronts him in the end.
• Ras the Destroyer or the exhorter: This second significant character appears when the narrator joins the Brotherhood. In the beginning, he’s known as Ras the exhorter, who incites race riots and creating hatred among other races with powerful speaking skills. He becomes the narrator’s sworn enemy for not taking part in the violence against the whites. His supporters appear here and there to thrash the opponents and make them submit to their demands of standing up to white superiority and domination. His domination of Harlem takes an upper hand when the Brotherhood retreats from the mainland.
• Dr. Bledsoe: Dr. Bledsoe is a very clever and shrewd president of the college reserved for the African American people. However, he keeps this shrewdness away from his public reputation and demonstrates subservience to his white masters whenever the situation arises. However, when it comes to the narrator, he does not feel any pity or conscience in destroying his future by expelling him after he shows Mr. Norton the reality of life around campus. His letters of reference for future employers prove disastrous for him.
• Grandfather: The Grandfather in the novel often creeps into the narrator’s thoughts, making him think about his last words that remind him about his presence and his place in the world of white domination. However, the narrator does not think his words, reflecting his lifelong wisdom of acquiescing to the demands of the white. He later feels that his Grandfather’s words about him have proven true.
• Jim Trueblood: A poor sharecropper, Jim’s fortune plummet when Mr. Norton visits him with the narrator. His harrowing tale of impregnating his own daughter has made him a notorious character in the vicinity though strangely the whites shower munificence on him after this notoriety.
• Tatlock: Tatlock and the narrator fall out after all the other boys are thrown out of the ring during the fight. As the biggest one, he does not resort to fake punching but does real punching and knocks out the narrator. He proves a symbol of raw force and courage.
• Superintendent: The superintendent in the novel invites the narrator for the speech but does not acknowledge his achievement. However, the narrator does not feel the bad taste, as he presents him a scholarship to the college.
• Mr. Emerson: Mr. Emerson is an important character, as he comes into contact with the narrator when he meets him with reference to the letter. It, however, happens that his son intervenes and points out to the narrator about the intention of Bledsoe by giving him reference letters.
• Reverend Barbee: This mobile speaker is all praise for the college founders and trustees for showing generosity toward the African American community through their donations. A buddha-like figure, he encourages the narrator to love his college despite facing humiliating expulsion.

Writing Style of Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison adopted the jazz style in this novel, proving it could be rendered into fiction . It is, however, based on sights as the narrator goes through the ordeals one by one. He has carefully chosen words, showing mastery of diction by putting the words at appropriate places, creating refrains after every few lines. In fact, this style shifts from the prologue to onward to another style with long and formal sentences and then again to informality and colloquialism of the Southerners. Constant use of wordplay, rhyme , slogan, and paradoxes has created Ellison’s own unique style that is hard to imitate and hard to ignore.

Analysis of Literary Devices in Invisible Man  

• Action: The main action of the novel comprises the anonymous narrator’s narrative about his admission on scholarship, his expulsion, and then invisibility that ends when he learns things about living in reality.
• Anaphora : Invisible Man shows the use of anaphora . For example, i. My hole is warm and full of light. Yes, full of light. I doubt if there is a brighter spot in all New York than this hole of mine, and I do not exclude Broadway. Or the Empire State Building on a photographer’s dream night . But that is taking advantage of you. Those two spots are among the darkest of our whole civilization — pardon me, our whole culture (an important distinction, I’ve heard) — which might sound like a hoax, or a contradiction, but that (by contradiction, I mean) is how the world moves: Not like an arrow, but a boomerang. (Beware of those who speak of the spiral of history; they are preparing a boomerang. Keep a steel helmet handy.) I know; I have been boomeranged across my head so much that I now can see the darkness of lightness. And I love light. Perhaps you’ll think it strange that an invisible man should need light, desire light, love light. But maybe it is exactly because I am invisible. (Prologue) The sentence shows the repetitious use of some phrases and words such as “full of light” “a boomerang” and “light.”
• Antagonist : Invisible Man shows Mr. Norton, Brother Jack, Dr. Bledsoe, and Ras the Exhorter as the antagonists who raise obstacles in the path of the narrator.
• Allusion : There are various examples of allusions given in the novel. i. I am in the great American tradition of tinkers. That makes me kin to Ford, Edison and Franklin. Call me, since I have a theory and a concept, a “thinker-tinker.” (Prologue) ii. I’d like to hear five recordings of Louis Armstrong playing and singing “What Did I Do to Be so Black and Blue” — all at the same time. Sometimes now I listen to Louis while I have my favorite dessert of vanilla ice cream and sloe gin. (Prologue) iii. With Louis Armstrong one half of me says, “Open the window and let the foul air out,” while the other says, “It was good green corn before the harvest.” ( Epilogue ) The first allusion is about the American founding fathers and scientists and the second and the third are about Louis Armstrong.
• Conflict : The are two types of conflicts in the novel . The first one is the external conflict that is going on between the whites and the African American community and the second is between the narrator and his mental thinking about his invisibility.
• Characters: Invisible Man presents both static as well as dynamic characters. The young narrator is a dynamic character as he faces transformation during his growth. However, the rest of the characters do Mr. Norton, Dr. Bledsoe, Rinehart, and Brother Jack.
• Climax : The climax takes place when the anonymous narrator loses his illusion about his success and invisibility.
• Foreshadowing : The novel shows the following examples of foreshadowing : i. I spoke automatically and with such fervor that I did not realize that the men were still talking and laughing until my dry mouth, filling up with blood from the cut, almost strangled me. (Chapter-1) ii. “Out of a sense of my destined role,” Mr. Norton said shakily. “I felt, and I still feel, that your people are in some important manner tied to my destiny.”(Chapter-3) These examples from Invisible Man clearly foreshadow the coming events.
• Hyperbole : Hyperbole or exaggeration occurs in the novel at various places. For example, i. Two men stood directly in front of me, one speaking with intense earnestness. “. . . and Johnson hit Jeffries at an angle of 45 degrees from his lower left lateral incisor, producing an instantaneous blocking of his entire thalamic rine, frosting it over like the freezing unit of a refrigerator, thus shattering his autonomous nervous system and rocking the big brick-laying creampuff with extreme hyperspasmic muscular tremors. (Chapter-3) ii. Now, now, Hester.” “Okay, okay . . . But what y’all doing looking like you at a funeral? Don’t you know this is the Golden Day?” she staggered toward me, belching elegantly and reeling. (Chapter-3) Not only are these sentences hyperbolic, but also they show how the narrator thinks.
• Imagery : Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, i. The wheel felt like an alien thing in my hands as I followed the white line of the highway. Heat rays from the late afternoon sun arose from the gray concrete, shimmering like the weary tones of a distant bugle blown upon still midnight air. (Chapter-4) ii. It was a clear, bright day when I went out, and the sun burned warm upon my eyes. Only a few flecks of snowy cloud hung high in the morning blue sky, and already a woman was hanging wash on a roof. I felt better walking along. A feeling of confidence grew. Far down the island the skyscrapers rose tall and mysterious in the thin, pastel haze. (Chapter-9). iii. The elevator dropped me like a shot and I went out and walked along the street. The sun was very bright now and the people along the walk seemed far away. I stopped before a gray wall where high above me the headstones of a church graveyard arose like the tops of buildings. (Chapter-9) These passages from the novel show that Ellison has used a variety of images such as the image of sound, color, and sight.
• Metaphor : Invisible Man shows good use of various metaphors . For example, i. Nor is my invisibility exactly a matter of a bio-chemical accident to my epidermis. (Prologue) ii. … this barren land after Emancipation,” he intoned, “this land of darkness and sorrow, of ignorance and degradation, where the hand of brother had been turned against brother, father against son, and son against father; where master had turned against slave and slave against master; where all was strife and darkness, an aching land.. (Chapter-5) iii. Booker Washington was resurrected today at a certain eviction in Harlem. He came out from the anonymity of the crowd and spoke to the people. So you see, I don’t joke with you. Or play with words either. There is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon — as our learned brother has graciously reminded me — you’ll learn it in time, but whatever you call it the reality of the world crisis is a fact. ( Chapter-7) The first example compares invisibility with his bodily situation, the second the land with different situations, and the third Booker T. Washington with a phenomenon.
• Mood : The novel presents a usual mood but turns to nightmares and dreams that the anonymous narrator sees but deep down it is tragic and serious.
• Motif : Most important motifs of the novel are invisibility, blindness, and jazz.
• Narrator : The novel is narrated in the first-person point of view and the narrator, who is a protagonist and an anonymous African American young man.
• Protagonist : The anonymous narrator is the protagonist of the novel. The novel starts with his entry into the world and moves forward as he gets admission to the college and then leaves it after his expulsion.
• Rhetorical Questions : The novel shows good use of rhetorical questions at several places. For example, i. ‘The harder we fought the more threatening the men became. And yet, I had begun to worry about my speech again. How would it go? Would they recognize my ability? What would they give me? (Chapter-1) ii. I have never seen, runs with liquid chalk – creating iii. another ambiguity to puzzle my groping mind: Why is a bird-soiled statue more commanding than one that is clean? (Chapter-2) iv. He gave the impression that he understood much and spoke out of knowledge far deeper than appeared on the surface of his words. Perhaps it was only the knowledge that he had escaped by the same route as I. But what had he to fear? I had made the speech, not he. That girl in the apartment had said that the longer I remained unseen the longer I’d be effective, which didn’t make much sense either. But perhaps that was why he had run. He wanted to remain unseen and effective. Effective at what? (Chapter-14) This example shows the use of rhetorical questions posed by different characters not to elicit answers but to stress the underlined idea.
• Setting : The setting of the novel is the American South, the city of New York.
• Simile : The novel shows good use of various similes. For example, i. A tomtom beating like heart-thuds began drowning out the trumpet, filling my ears . (Prologue) ii. About eighty-five years ago they were told that they were free, united with others of our country in everything pertaining to the common good, and, in everything social, separate like the fingers of the hand. (Chapter-1) iii. I remembered the admiration and fear he inspired in everyone on the campus; the pictures in the Negro press captioned “EDUCATOR,” in type that exploded like a rifle shot, his face looking out at you with utmost confidence. (Chapter-6) These are similes as the use of the word “like” shows the comparison between different things.

Related posts:

• The Invisible Man Quotes
• The Invisible Man Themes
• The Invisible Man Characters
• Ralph Ellison

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Ralph Ellison Invisible Man as a Bildungsroman Novel

“Invisible Man” written by Ralph Ellison is a powerful novel that explores themes of identity, race, and social invisibility. The protagonist’s journey of self-discovery and the challenges he faces provide a thought-provoking examination of the African American experience in America. The novel’s rich symbolism and vivid storytelling make it a significant contribution to American literature.

“Invisible Man” can be considered a Bildungsroman novel. The story follows the protagonist’s coming-of-age journey as he navigates through various experiences and encounters that shape his identity and understanding of the world. It explores themes of self-discovery, growth, and the protagonist’s search for his place in society. The novel’s narrative structure and the protagonist’s development make it a compelling example of the Bildungsroman genre.

As a Bildungsroman novel ,the racially divided society and the oppression against blacks leads to the personal discovery for identity and a place of the protagonist in the society.The racially divided society and the oppression against African Americans play a crucial role in the protagonist’s personal discovery of identity and finding his place in society. The challenges he faces due to systemic racism and discrimination push him to question his own identity and confront the limitations placed upon him. Through these experiences, he undergoes a transformative journey of self-realization and understanding of the world around him. The novel beautifully captures the complexities of race and identity, making it a powerful Bildungsroman that resonates with readers.

The coming-of-age journey is another exemplification of a bildungsroman novel. The novel depicts it through the protagonist’s experiences of self-discovery and growth. For example, when the protagonist attends college, he initially believes that education will lead to acceptance and success. However, he soon realizes that the college’s ideology is oppressive and limits his individuality. Another example is when he joins the Brotherhood, hoping to bring about social change. Yet, he discovers that the organization uses him as a tool for their own agenda, leading him to question his role and purpose. Lastly, the protagonist’s encounter with Ras the Exhorter forces him to confront the complexities of identity and the need to assert his own voice in a world that often renders him invisible. These instances highlight the protagonist’s evolving understanding of himself and the challenges he faces on his journey towards self-realization.

He also further undergoes the journey of knowledge towards the systemic oppression towards African Americans in the society. The incident at the paint factory serves as a catalyst for the protagonist to question his own social role in society. It exposes the reality behind the strange experiment conducted at the factory, which reveals the dehumanizing treatment of African Americans. This revelation forces the protagonist to confront the harsh truth about the society he lives in and prompts him to reevaluate his own beliefs and actions. It’s a pivotal moment in the novel that deepens his understanding of the systemic oppression faced by his community and propels him further on his journey of self-discovery.

The protagonist also undergoes a self definition and refinement of identity under the political pressure and a climate of the age.The protagonist indeed experienced an identity crisis due to the political climate of the time. After Ras accused him of betraying the community, the protagonist felt the need to disguise himself and adopt different personas to navigate the complex social dynamics. One of the personas he took on was that of Rinehart, a mysterious figure who seemed to effortlessly navigate various social spheres. By assuming different identities, the protagonist explores the complexities of his own identity and the role he plays in society. It’s a fascinating exploration of the individual’s struggle for self-definition amidst societal pressures.

Furthermore, the protagonist does find a way to let go of his past traumatic experiences and continues to search for his identity and place in society. Writing down his experiences is indeed a crucial part of his journey. It allows him to reflect on his past, make sense of his experiences, and gain a deeper understanding of himself and the world around him. It’s a powerful tool for self-expression and self-discovery.

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Invisible Man

Ralph ellison, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions, dr. bledsoe quotes in invisible man.

The white folk tell everybody what to think—except men like me. I tell them ; that’s my life, telling white folk how to think about the things I know about.

I looked at Ras on his horse and at their handful of guns and recognized the absurdity of the whole night and of the simple yet confoundingly complex arrangement of hope and desire, fear and hate, that had brought me here still running, and knowing now who I was and where I was and knowing too that I had no longer to run for or from the Jacks and the Emersons and the Bledsoes and Nortons, but only from their confusion, impatience, and refusal to recognize the beautiful absurdity of their American identity and mine.

How long can federal budgets keep ignoring a deeper truth?

Analysis How long can federal budgets keep ignoring a deeper truth?

The Albanese government will release its federal budget this week.

That means you'll be hearing a lot of conversations about "inflation," the "economy," and "economic growth."

But let's remind ourselves of the thing that makes those phenomena possible.

The way the budget is normally framed, with an intense focus on the politics and "winners and losers" of the budget, means we can easily forget some deeper truths about economics and the natural world.

Without the environment, there's no economy

Last week, an interesting paper was published that discussed the issue I'm referring to.

It was titled: Rethinking ecosystem services from the Anthropocene to the Ecozoic: Nature's benefits to the biotic community .

It was written by economists and researchers from North America. They argued we had to stop treating "the economy" as though it was separate from nature.

"Modern science accepts that all complex species, including humans, are an inseparable part of nature, incapable of surviving without the ecosystem services nature generates," they argued. 

"Nature is the whole, the economy is the part. We must internalise the economy into nature, not vice versa."

The paper contributed to a larger discussion about something called "ecosystem services", which is becoming increasingly important.

The concept of "ecosystem services" refers to the benefits that nature provides to humans through the transformation of environmental "assets", such as land, water, vegetation and the atmosphere, into a flow of essential goods and services.

In 2010, when the concept was younger, the Australian government published  this document  to explain what it was.

It now plays an important role in environmental accounting , which is quietly revolutionising the way we account for economic growth within a framework that pays more attention to the environment.

But the researchers in last week's paper argue that "ecosystem services", as it's currently conceptualised, still doesn't go far enough.

They say it still puts humans at the centre of things by focusing on nature's benefits to people , rather than accepting that humans are an integral part a much larger system that sustains all life, and which must be handled with care. 

"It is based on the outmoded belief at the root of mainstream economics that everyone acting in their own self-interest creates an invisible hand that maximises the welfare of all," they argued.

"Climate change, biodiversity loss, and the transgression of several other planetary boundaries are proof that this is not so.

"Solving our current ecological and social crises — which have only grown worse over the past ten years — requires a radical transformation of humanity's relationship to the global ecosystems that sustain all life."

Their paper followed a different paper published in Nature last month that estimated the financial and economic damage coming our way from the rise in global temperatures in coming decades.

"We find that the world economy is committed to an income reduction of 19 per cent within the next 26 years independent of future emission choices," the paper said .

"These damages already outweigh the mitigation costs required to limit global warming to 2°C by sixfold over this near-term time frame, and thereafter diverge strongly dependent on emission choices."

The paper came from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research , which is a German government-funded research institute.

It'll be hard not to think about those papers this week, when Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivers his budget speech.

The mood of climate scientists is not good

In a similar vein, the latest edition of the Quarterly Essay, which is about to hit shelves , has been written by renowned climate scientist Joëlle Gergis.

Dr Gergis is an internationally recognised expert in Australian and southern hemisphere climate variability and change, and a lead author on the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on the Climate Change's Sixth Assessment Report .

Her Quarterly Essay has been billed this way:

"Working from the science, she discusses the world's and Australia's efforts to combat climate change. She outlines how far Australia is from keeping its promises to cut emissions.

"She takes aim at false solutions and the folly of 'adaptation' rather than curbing fossil fuel use. This is an essay about government paralysis and what is at stake for all of us. It's about getting real, in the face of an unprecedented threat."

On social media last week, Dr Gergis said her essay was a "scientific reality check of Australia's climate policy (gas, carbon capture and storage, carbon offsets, adaptation etc) and what it means for our country".

And she was unable to hide her frustration about the state of politics and climate policy, lamenting how we keep voting in people who are OK with prolonging the use of fossil fuels, "the very thing that is cooking our planet".

A few days earlier, the Guardian published a story about the current "mood" of climate scientists.

With the headline, " We asked 380 top climate scientists what they felt about the future … They are terrified, but determined to keep fighting ", it had some sobering statistics:

• 77 per cent of respondents believe global temperatures will reach at least 2.5C above pre-industrial levels, a devastating degree of heating
• Almost half – 42 per cent – think it will be more than 3C
• Only 6 per cent think the 1.5C limit will be achieved

That's how the Guardian's environment editor, Damian Carrington, presented the information.

It's the type of story that's difficult to read, if you're not feeling up to it. So spare a thought for the scientists who are living those statistics every day.

When it comes to this week's federal budget, the most pressing thing for households will be to get some help for their household budgets, and to ensure they have shelter, and employment, and their health accounted for, and their loved ones looked after.

That will always be a priority.

But the "economy" that provides those things is sitting inside a larger planetary system, and we can't keep ignoring that fact forever.

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It's the elephant in the room: can we grow the economy without destroying nature.

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Jean Smart Is Having a Third Act for the Ages

Like her character on “Hacks,” she’s winning late-career success on her own exuberant terms.

Jean Smart. Credit... Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

Supported by

By J Wortham

J Wortham is a staff writer for the magazine. They visited the set of “Hacks” in January in Los Angeles, and interviewed the cast and crew over the course of a few weeks.

• Published May 12, 2024 Updated May 13, 2024

Calling someone a “hack” is a particularly vicious insult. It implies that they have no talent or, worse, that they have wasted it. The slight is hurled early on in “Hacks,” the popular HBO series starring Jean Smart as Deborah Vance, a seasoned comedian who teams up with a younger one named Ava (Hannah Einbinder) to freshen up her act.

Listen to this article, read by January LaVoy

When they meet, Ava takes stock of Deborah — her glitzy mansion, her residency at a casino in Las Vegas, a hustle selling branded merchandise on cable TV — and sees her as the definition of a hack, a sellout cashing in on her former fame. Deborah is unfazed. Amused, even. What does this kid know about her career, about years of hard work, about the unfairness, sexism and disregard?

Deborah, meanwhile, sees Ava as a bit of a hack herself — an entitled and spoiled young internet persona who was canceled for posting a joke about a closeted senator. (“Sounds like a Tuesday for me,” Deborah retorts when Ava complains about it.) Deborah is a workaholic on the verge of bitter, someone who grew tired of being cut and so became a knife. She’s shameless, litigious, petty, vengeful, stubborn — qualities that become a comedic asset for the character and a narrative engine for the show. Just how far is Deborah Vance willing to go?

Throughout the first two seasons, much of the drama — and delight — is in seeing Ava puncture Deborah’s carefully lacquered facade with her Gen Z earnestness and sharp wit. In one of the show’s funniest moments, Deborah bluntly asks Ava, “You a lesbian?” Ava leans back in her chair while considering the question. She responds with a treatise reflecting the identity politics of a generation raised with nonexistent boundaries and zero sexual shame, ending with a graphic description of how she orgasms. Deborah doesn’t miss a beat. “Jesus Christ!” she exclaims. “I was just wondering why you were dressed like Rachel Maddow’s mechanic!” Deborah and Ava are mirrors for each other, gifted and perspicacious performers at opposite ends of their careers, both trying to be their most audacious selves in an industry that will dispose of them the moment they cross an invisible line.

Over the last three years, “Hacks” has earned its two Emmy nominations for outstanding comedy series by cultivating a polyphonic, fast-paced humor relentless as Deborah’s own quick mind. There are constant insult jokes about Ava’s appearance (“Your manicurist must use a paint roller!”); manic banter between Jimmy, Deborah’s beleaguered agent, and his delusional assistant (played brilliantly by the comedian Meg Stalter); antic bits like a seemingly poignant scene of Deborah’s daughter playing classical piano as a reflection of her gilded upbringing, before it devolves into absurdity when the music is revealed to be the theme song from “Jurassic Park.” And then there are the battles royal in which Ava and Deborah fire hilarious barbs back and forth until their frustration gives way to awe at each other’s cleverness and something like respect blooms. It’s weaponized therapy.

One day in January, Smart was filming an episode of the show’s third season at a private villa near Pasadena, Calif., kitted out to resemble a mansion in Bel-Air. She sat in a magisterial library on a caramel leather Chesterfield. Deborah is meeting with the network executive who canceled her show in the 1970s after she (allegedly) tried to set her former husband’s home on fire upon discovering that he was having an affair with her sister. The ensuing scandal banished her to the edges of the entertainment industry. She hopes the conversation will yield some clarity, perhaps even closure.

No one would mistake Deborah Vance for soft. And yet here she was, defanged — somewhat. She wore an expensive silk leopard blouse, a reminder of her latent ferocity. As Keith Sayer, who worked with Smart to craft the image of Deborah, remarked to me while observing the scene: “She went in thinking there might be a battle.”

In the scene, Deborah’s voice is low, pleading. “Before I do this all again,” she says, “I really need to know why it didn’t work the first time.” The executive is perplexed. To him, it’s obvious. He reminds her of the chaos that followed her very public meltdown with her husband. She is chastened by the memory but recovers. “I know,” she says. “I’ve just always thought if I’d been a little bit better, a little bit funnier, if I’d been undeniable, it could have happened.”

The entire crew seemed to collectively hold their breath as they watched Smart, as Deborah, waiting for the reply. From behind a cluster of monitors, the show’s creators, Jen Statsky, Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello, sat watching the process and whispering to one another. (Smart calls them “J.P.L.” for short, which she says stands for Jet Propulsion Laboratory.) At one point, Aniello asked Smart to do a take with her eyes not lowered, to add some of her potency back. “Less like a wounded deer,” she added. They wanted her to strike a delicate balance between humble and proud. They gave Smart a few pointed notes, which she metabolized quickly, speed-cycling through a spectrum of emotions on command. Smart is a maestro of microexpressions: She can adjust the lines on her forehead to convey pain or arrogance. Her voice is an ember that can smolder or burn red-hot; her laugh can sound coquettish or sharp, like the cries of an exotic bird.

At this point in the show, Deborah and her career are trending. After combing through Deborah’s extensive archive, Ava realized that her most powerful work could be drawn from her own history. They devise a new act that satirizes Deborah’s shadow selves: a jealous ex, a vain and self-involved mother, a bad feminist and a power-hungry entrepreneur. Self-aware and self-skewering, the act revives interest in Deborah and pushes her back into the spotlight, so much so that her team pitches a comedy special. Networks won’t touch it. Undeterred, Deborah decides to finance the special herself, and it goes viral.

“Hacks” is a similar turning point in Smart’s career. Despite working steadily in Hollywood for three decades, she has never played a lead character that has captivated audiences quite like this one. Casting her was a stroke of genius: There’s a relish to her performance, not only because she’s perfect in the role but also because she and Deborah would both delight in the idea of proving wrong anyone who overlooked or underestimated their gifts. Smart, as Deborah, gives the lie to the idea of the hack and repurposes it as a glorious wink.

In 2015, Downs, Aniello and Statsky were road-tripping to a monster-truck rally in Portland, Maine, where Downs would be filming a segment for a sketch-comedy special. The three met in 2009 while bumming around New York trying to get their comedy careers off the ground. Downs and Aniello began dating after they met in an Upright Citizens Brigade improv class, and Statsky and Aniello met in a sketch group. The three formed a tight-knit circle.

As tends to happen on long drives, the three found themselves deep in existential conversations. One turned to talented people who had fallen into obscurity. A theater actress with a vibrant and illustrious career had died recently, and articles about her life stunned them. “How come we are only learning about this woman and her work in her obituary?” Downs, who plays Jimmy, asked. “Why did we not see her in every guest role on TV?” It reminded Statsky of the improvisational-comedy duo Nichols and May — Mike Nichols, she said, “went on to have an incredible career, but you weren’t quite sure what happened to May.” (Elaine May did have a long career, directing films and writing screenplays, but she is not nearly as well known.) They thought about other great female performers who seemed to disappear — or worse, lost control of the joke and became the butt of it. They had just heard Kathy Griffin’s appearance on Marc Maron’s podcast , where she discussed how much easier it was to become a reality-TV star than to sustain the life of a comic. They had also watched “A Piece of Work,” the 2010 Joan Rivers documentary that highlighted the verdant years of her comedy career, before she became better known for body modifications and red-carpet cattiness.

These women were meteoric talents whose reputations eroded over time because of the industry’s exclusionary practices. Many became spectacles, cartoonifying themselves with antic behavior and plastic surgeries or tawdry television appearances. “It was really just a way to survive, a way to commodify their art,” Aniello said. “They weren’t being taken seriously as geniuses or auteurs, so they had to go into this other lane and create it for themselves. And sometimes we look down on that art form, and it’s unfair, because they were literally just trying to exist.”

Statsky reckoned with her own dismissal of those women and others like them. “Did I have some weird bias?” she said. “Thinking this person is hacky or writing them off in a way?” Why, they all wondered, was it easier to remember these women for their cheapest career moments than for their best work? And more to the point — what drove those comedians to devalue themselves in the first place?

The friends were juiced enough after the car ride to try to create a character, a woman in her third act who refused to accept the notion that she was past her prime. They also devised her foil, a younger comedian weaned on viral fame. They saw the narrative arc so clearly that they knew exactly where the series would end. They also knew that they wanted to staff the show with comedians and comic actors who they felt hadn’t been fully given the chance to showcase their talents. All three were admirers of Smart, and so they sent the pilot script to her agent; she was the only actor they met with. “When she walked into the room, you just felt Deborah was alive — she’s glamorous and dry and smart and blond — just a perfect fit,” the trio told me in an email. They pitched the show in 2019, and the first season aired in May 2021.

When Smart first read the script, she was enraptured by the depth of the writing for Deborah. “It ticked all the boxes,” she said. She recalled a scene in which Deborah has a liaison with a younger man. Rather than writing it as purely salacious, the creators infused it with real sensuality — and the encounter kindles a burst of creativity for Deborah. “She discovers something new in her work that just brings back some real joy to her,” Smart told me.

The character of Deborah is based on an amalgamation of female comedians, including Griffin, Rivers, Paula Poundstone and Betty White. There’s a little Lucille Bluth of “Arrested Development” in there, too. Phyllis Diller may be the most important model for Deborah — Smart once dressed like her as a girl — but while Diller leaned into the garish to the point of surrealism, Deborah is firmly established in the leisure class. As Kathleen Felix-Hager, the show’s costume designer, told me, “She has money.”

It was important to the show’s creators that Deborah’s difficulties are not financial. By many definitions, she has already made it. But her ambitions extend beyond her bank balance. She wants a certain stature, a reputation, a desire to be, as she tells the executive, undeniable . But “you can be undeniable, and you might still get denied,” Downs said. If Deborah is a hack, she was first made that way by a sexist and ageist industry that disposed of her as soon as she became inconvenient.

When Smart was done filming, she bundled us both into the back of her car, and a driver took us to a favorite Italian spot in Toluca Lake. In the back seat were a satin pillow (for napping) and sequin jackets (for a drag show later). She was energized by the day’s shoot, particularly by the verve of her co-star, Hal Linden of “Barney Miller” fame, now in his 90s. “I hope to keep working like that,” she marveled. As we walked into the restaurant, heads perked up as Smart waltzed past, and we found a roomy, private booth in the back.

Many people remember Smart from her role as Charlene on “Designing Women,” in which she played a version of herself as a teenager growing up in Seattle: the “blue-eyed, blond-haired, goody-two-shoes cheerleader,” as she described it to me. In person, Smart is as warm and loose. At lunch, she slapped the table to punctuate her sentences and unleashed her distinctive, bellowing laugh at high volume when she was pleased by a detail or an interaction. She straddles generations; she doesn’t do social media yet knew to ask me for my pronouns. Her knack for physical comedy seems second nature. When the waiter asked if she wanted a “baby” glass of wine or a big one, she shot me an impish glance and then used her thumb as an arrow to indicate that she would like the adult-size version. “I’m not driving,” she said slyly. After she served us both from a communal plate, she said: “I’m not your mother. Why am I cutting up your food?” and then continued doing it.

Smart described with glee how she leaned into the role of Deborah. She loves getting to be a demanding boss and a sexpot. “I’ve had more action on this show than my entire career put together,” she told me. She has a one-night stand with Devon Sawa, makes out with Tony Goldwyn and has an ongoing love-hate relationship with Marty (Christopher McDonald), who owns the Las Vegas casino where she performs. She was awarded two Emmys for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series in 2021 and 2022.

Smart wondered aloud where all this adulation was 20 years ago. By her own estimation, she has always been this dynamic, this charismatic, this compelling. But Smart talks about her career with oracular calm: She knows that her time is simply her time. Smart is 72, and for women of her generation, the range of archetypes available to them has always been narrow, and it dwindles even more over time. “At 40, you’re going, They definitely aren’t going to be calling me for that role,” she said. “Experience is hugely important. It’s going to trump brilliance every time.”

Smart’s easy grace is offset by a frenetic energy that makes her irresistible to watch but difficult to categorize. She’s 5-foot-9 and always felt that her height cut against her beauty-pageant looks, transforming them into something more formidable. Smart was never an ingénue. “I’ve always been part way to between leading lady and a character actress.” She worked consistently after leaving “Designing Women” in 1991, but it wasn’t until she was 53 that she began being cast in larger roles with more edge and gravitas. On “24,” she played Martha Logan, a mentally unstable but cunning first lady who managed to make being unhinged admirable. In “Fargo” (2015) and “Mare of Easttown” (2021), she played cunning and at times malevolent matriarchs. She had a powerful role on “Watchmen” (2019) as the retired vigilante turned F.B.I. agent Laurie Blake. (She got the role after Sigourney Weaver turned it down and told me that “if I’d won the Emmy for that, I was going to thank her.”)

Kate Winslet, who worked with Smart on “Mare of Easttown,” described how she combines intuition with exquisite control of the distinct regions of her face. Smart played Winslet’s mother, Helen, who is both all-seeing and self-absorbed. “Jean has the power to do a tiny thing and flip the energy of the scene,” Winslet told me — raising an eyebrow, say, or sharpening the edge of an inhale. “It’s fresh, because it means every time you walk into a scene, she’ll always do something that will surprise you.” Winslet recalled a moment while filming “Mare” after their characters attended a funeral. They were walking off the set when suddenly Smart turned to her: “Oh, shoot, I wanted them to paint my nails.” She knew that Helen was the kind of woman who would have gone to the beauty parlor to get her hair set and nails done. “It mattered to me that she cared in that way,” Winslet said.

Smart’s willingness to surrender vanity for her art impressed Winslet, but Smart has sometimes wondered if allowing herself to be styled as matronly or haggard hindered some of the momentum she was building. In “Fargo,” for example, she let them color her hair, and “all of a sudden I looked so much older.” It felt like being led out to pasture. “Casting directors have Rolodexes full of actors,” she said, “and if they can’t type you or pigeonhole you, it’s like, Is it really worth the time and effort to try to figure out what that person can do?” By the time she arrived on set at “Hacks,” she had acquired the ability to draw from her letdowns in Hollywood with enough distance to satirize them. On “Hacks,” Smart explained, Deborah represents someone who is pushing back and saying, I’ll decide when I’m done.

At lunch, Smart was open about the recent tragedies in her life. In 2021, Richard Gilliland, an actor she met on the set of “Designing Women” and married in 1987, died after a heart attack. Covid restrictions meant that she got to see him only twice in the hospital. There was still a week left of filming for the first season of “Hacks,” and Smart was asked if she wanted to take some time off. Her inclination was to keep working. “I figured, I’m still in shock,” Smart said. “Let’s just do it, you know?” In the episode they were filming, Ava’s father has suddenly died, and Deborah crashes the funeral and gives a speech that brings the house down. When the time came to get in front of the camera, Smart started shaking. It had been only a few days since her own husband’s death. She wasn’t sure she was going to make it. She recalled taking a deep breath (and an Ativan) and jumping into the scene. Deborah asks the mourners to share a memory of the deceased when he was drunk. Aghast — and titillated — they allow themselves to be goaded into unruly stories, which she tempers by sharing a rare gem of praise for her protégée. Smart remembers it as cathartic.

You can see, in that scene, how Smart excavates her own subterranean emotions in her performance. Occasionally, while talking about her life’s hardships, I got the impression of Smart as a large, silvery body of water and her difficulties as opaque shapes moving underneath. But they never fully surfaced unless she wanted them to. Smart is now raising her youngest son alone, something she never imagined doing at her age. (She has another son who is in his 30s; she and Gilliland adopted their second son 20 years later.) He is now a teenager, and she wants to be present for all the moments of wonder, anxiety and introspection. As our meal wound down, she began talking animatedly about picking him up from school. He was in rehearsals for his high school’s production of “The Pirates of Penzance,” and she was excited to hear about it while she made him dinner. She doesn’t go to bed before he does, even if he stays up until 10 p.m. and she has a 4 a.m. call time. Smart’s zest for her life — all of it, even the challenging parts — comes through clearly. She is determined to enjoy the pleasure of her children and her career as long as she can.

At the end of the previous season, after a tumultuous road trip, a lawsuit and the triumph of pulling off a comeback tour, Ava and Deborah part ways at Deborah’s insistence. She wants Ava to forge her own career. She is also pushing her away out of fear: The closeness has proved to be too much. Deborah is still working out her trust issues, believing that dependence on others has never served her.

When she finally gets what she craves — recognition and power — the axis of the show turns to wondering how this second wave of success will influence her. Will she operate like the ruthless executives she worked under, or will she create new ways of being? Can she? Can anyone? “Hacks” also asks the question of Hollywood itself: What would it be like with different people at the helm? It’s a fantasy of second chances, shifting hierarchies, upended power dynamics — but, appropriately for a moment when the gains of racial-justice movements, #MeToo and D.E.I. initiatives are being rolled back, if not eradicated, “Hacks” refuses to be rosy. Deborah Vance is no utopian leader. She is as flawed as anyone else, but through her, the show explores how people are shaped by systems that misuse them and the damage they can inflict, or undo, as a result.

Deborah’s relationship to biological motherhood is evidence of her priorities and ambivalences. DJ, Deborah’s daughter on the show (played by Kaitlin Olson), is a monument to Deborah’s narcissism. (DJ stands for Deborah Jr.) Their relationship is fraught, as DJ, who feels neglected, commits minor acts of sabotage toward her mother, including tipping off the paparazzi to photograph her in unglamorous moments. It’s later revealed that Deborah not only knows about this but lets DJ get away with it. “Makes her feel self-sufficient,” she tells Ava. It’s a clarifying moment: It is easier to let her daughter think that she’s exploiting her than to affirm or be affectionate toward her.

Deborah finds more kinship with Ava, recognizing herself in the younger comedian’s unabashed careerism and raw talent. Zero blood ties yield more honesty between them. The show understands that chosen family can come in many, sometimes demented and occasionally toxic forms, including work relationships that become stand-ins for our most intimate ones. “Mother” is a verb as well as a noun, and Deborah finds her footing nurturing the next generation of feminist performers and their outrage (on one thrilling episode, she pays an obnoxiously misogynistic male comedian $1.69 million to never perform publicly again). Ava also nurtures Deborah, teaching her how to embrace her vulnerability through comedy and invite people into an incisive and exploratory investigation of the self.

Later in the season, Deborah is being profiled by a magazine when some unsavory, racist material from her past resurfaces online. Ava pushes her to hold herself accountable for her offensive behavior, but the reckoning becomes deeper than that. She is asking Deborah to look hard at her own complacency, her willingness to adopt the status-quo tendencies of exploiting others for her own gain. Deborah agrees to appear at a town hall, but she also insists on charming the students in her own way, crashing a frat party, doing keg stands and buying everyone pizza.

When the article comes out, Ava reads it aloud to Deborah. Ava is quoted in the piece, and she pauses as she recites her own words. “A hack is someone who does the same thing over and over,” she starts. “Deborah is the opposite. She keeps evolving and getting better.” It’s an apt description of the show, Deborah and anyone who faces their worst moment — and survives to joke about it.

Stylist: Micah Schifman

Read by January LaVoy

Narration produced by Krish Seenivasan and Anna Diamond

Engineered by Brian St. Pierre

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