Explanation: Throughout the novel, it is fairly clear that the Brotherhood is a clear allusion to the American Communist party which held a signifiant role in American history, especially in the 20th century. The Brotherhood stands for the socially oppressed people and for the people that lack a voice in common society. The American Communist Party also focused on upholding democratic rights and opposing racism. 

Why include the allusion: Ralph Ellison was actually affiliated with the American Communist Party during one point in his life. In the novel, the narrator struggles with the Brotherhood's changing views. Ellison may have included the allusion to show how the American Communist Party may have changed its views and how that may have been the reason why Ellison no longer affiliated himself with the Party.

“That night, I found myself not only hearing time, but in space as well. I not only entered the music, but descended, like Dante, into its depths” (9).

This quotation can be found in the prologue to the novel, specifically before the narrator begins to go through the hallucination. 

The allusion is to the pre-Renaissance poet Dante Alighieri’s epic poem Divine Comedy, specifically the first collection Inferno. In this section, the protagonist Dante descends into the Nine Levels of Hell. This epic is an allegory for a Christian’s soul on its journey to God, with Inferno representing the descent into the baseness of human nature, or rather into sin itself. The deeper he does, the more grave and mortal the sins of the inhabitants Dante meets are. In Christian theology, sin is the basis for all religious activity: a Christian's goal is to reject sin. Therefore, by descending into Hell, the domain of sinner’s eternal punishment, Dante’s soul is able to better understand the nature of sin, and therefore his religion and world. The hallucination the Invisible Man enters into “like Dante” (9) serves a similar purpose: in it, he goes back through time to the roots of his current predicament, back to the time of slavery. He talks to an elderly slave woman apparently conflicted over the death of her master and the father of her children, where the Invisible Man is confronted with the object if his greater focus: what is the freedom that he and his people search for? Like Dante, he is on a path towards a greater understanding of his reality and must descend into the base and unpleasant roots of it to discover it.

Ellison uses this to establish early on his protagonist’s parallels to Dante. Both embark on a journey deep into the basis of their social order to come to a greater understanding of it. The society of the Late Middle Ages, where Alighieri is from, was based upon on strict adherence to Christian principles, especially in regards to opposing sin; the America that the Invisible Man lives in is a time where black people were still in the process of coming to terms with their relationship with their world and society. In an effort to understand it, both men descend into the most base roots of their problems on a greater journey to understanding and move part them. By comparing the protagonists, Ellison also assumes a role for the novel -- the Divine Comedy is widely hailed as one of the greatest works of literature across the globe and also a manifesto of sorts of the religious, and by extension social, doctrine of Alighieri's era. It is this type of reputation that Ellison both strived for and achieved with this novel: it too is widely hailed as one of the greatest works modern of modern literature and establishes the order of the (and inadvertently later) eras for black Americans.

2. Horatio Alger was one of the most popular and socially influential writers of the latter part of the 1800s. He was a white man. The son of a minister, he worked as a schoolteacher and contributor to magazines before taking a seven month tour of Europe. He was rejected for army service during the American Civil War. He briefly served as a minister before moving to New York City and publishing novels. His novel Ragged DIck; or, Street Life in New York with the Bootblacks, was a great success. It tells the story of a shoeshine boy who rises from poor to wealthy, and Alger continued to write rags-to-riches stories throughout the rest of his career. His novels all essentially argued that through honesty, optimism, perseverance, and hard work, one would reach a better future. The protagonists of his novels were rewarded for displaying these characteristics, though their rewards were almost always the result of good luck. WIth his success as a novelist, he was able to support charitable organizations that cared for runaway boys and foundlings. Because his novels, despite their popularity, featured poor to terrible dialogue, characterizations, and plots, he was not taken seriously by many. Stories that tell of similar American rags-to-riches journeys are sometimes called “Horatio Alger myths.”
3. Ellison includes this allusion to clarify the nature of the millionaires’ performances as well as the opinions of the students and the millionaires about the performances. The allusion specifies that the performances tell rags-to-riches stories, while implying that the students are “expected” to be like the protagonists of Horatio Alger’s stories. In theory, the students, like the protagonists of his novels, are expected to work their way up from poverty and low status to success, wealth, and higher social standing. The millionaires are able to play themselves in these stories because their opportunities for advancement actually exist, and whites have the ability to advance in societal and economic status. The irony is that, while the skits are performed to teach or inspire the black students to strive for advancement, the millionaires have no intention of letting the students advance. Some critics have argued that people of lower status, including blacks (at the time of the novels’ publications), accepted the lessons of Alger’s novels as true, even though many knew of their falsehoods, because the hope of advancement helped ease the hardships of day-to-day life. By specifically mentioning Horatio Alger’s rags-to-riches stories instead of those of another author, Ellison clarifies that those of higher status, the millionaires, do not actually take the stories of advancement seriously, at least not for the black students. The only way a black student will advance is through pure luck. Yet, like the people who believe in the ideals of Alger myths, the students accept these stories because of the hope they offer. The narrator himself believes in this myth until he learns of Bledsoe’s true intentions. 
4. This allusion affects the novel by providing insight into the beliefs of different groups of people at the college, with the goal of showing the extreme racism present in supposedly one of the most progressive institutions in the nation. A follow-up to the battle royale scene, this allusion further demonstrates how blacks are offered opportunities for advancement that turn out to be lies or tricks. This furthers the theme of racism by explaining that actions that appear to be progress towards equality may actually be superficial, allowing no progress to be made despite the efforts of black people. The narrator cannot truly find his identity or understand his invisibility until he understands this concept. 

Ras the Destroyer’s character is an allusion to Marcus Garvey.  Marcus Garvey was a black man that was well-known throughout the early 1900’s for being a black nationalist.  He was the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League.  He was known as notorious by many of the whites.  He wanted to chase the whites out Africa and create a black only government.  He did not want any white people’s help in doing this and disapproved when the black men tried getting assistance; he did not think blacks and whites were meant to work together.  Many of Marcus Garvey’s and Ras the Destroyer’s actions and views paralleled each other.

Ellison used the character of Ras the Destroyer who alluded to Marcus Garvey in order to to relate back to a real historical figure and to keep the book on the realistic side.  He wanted to use people that were significant in that era that related to the black movement.  During the time in which the book was based off, Marcus Garvey was a real person, trying to make a change in society.  The character, Ras, needed a basis for his believes, and Marcus Garvey was able to provide it.  Marcus Garvey was a man who aided in the procession of the black race; he helped play a large role in setting off a global mass movement.  This man was needed in order to show that blacks were trying to make a change, but that not all blacks were doing it the same way.  Marcus Garvey’s beliefs were shown to be contrary to the brotherhood, even though they were both trying to benefit black society.  There was also a relation to the setting as Marcus Garvey spent some time in Harlem.

“I smiled, seeing his eyes blaze with annoyance. Old Friendly Face said something. The new man wrote a question at which I stared in wide-eyed amazement:
WHO WAS BUCKEYE THE RABBIT?

I was filled with turmoil. Why should he think of that? He pointed to the question, word by word. I laughed, deep, deep inside me, giddy with the delight of self-discovery and the desire to hide it. Somehow I was Buckeye the Rabbit . . . or had been, when as children we danced and sang barefoot in the dusty streets:

Buckeye the Rabbit Shake it, shake it Buckeye the Rabbit Break it, break it . . .

Yet, I could not bring myself to admit it, it was too ridiculous -- and somehow too dangerous. It was annoying that he had hit upon an old identity and I shook my head, seeing him purse his lips and eye me sharply.

BOY, WHO WAS BRER RABBIT?

He was your mother's back-door man, I thought. Anyone knew they were one and the same: "Buckeye" when you were very young and hid yourself behind wide innocent eyes; "Brer," when you were older. But why was he playing around with these childish names? Did they think I was a child? Why didn't they leave me alone? I would remember soon enough when they let me out of the machine . . . A palm smacked sharply upon the glass, but I was tired of them. Yet as my eyes focused upon Old Friendly Face he seemed pleased. I couldn't understand it, but there he was, smiling and leaving with the new assistant” (187-188).

The allusion here, although it is an explicit reference and therefore not technically an allusion, is speaking of Brer Rabbit, a character of African-American and of African folklore. Within the tall tales, Brer Rabbit is predominantly a trickster figure. He occasionally gets into trouble, largely due to his gullibility, but he always manages to get himself out by way of clever manipulation, rather than any sort of physical force. He often upsets authoritative figures and acts against the natural order of society in a way that safeguards him from any serious repercussion.

It’s quite clear that Ellison found many good opportunities to mirror Brer Rabbit in the narrator, mainly to expand the depth of character and to rehash certain qualities, and perhaps even to foreshadow the later Brotherhood shenanigans. In multiple instances, the narrator is caught in traps of delusion due to his naivete, whether it be his initial belief that he can stand on equal terms with the whites or his final mistake in overlooking the impurities of the Brotherhood. Every time, however, he manages to get himself out safely, sometimes more due to luck than anything else. The narrator’s ultimate goal is to create some sort of change within the world regarding the racial disparity, and that ideology inherently contests the mainstream mindset of the time. In regards to diction, the Brotherhood calls its members “brothers,” which, upon closer inspection, expands the allusion to include the manipulated and manipulating members of the Brotherhood, paralleling the relation between Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit. 

b. Explanation - Uncle Tom is one of the characters of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. The novel itself was a revolutionary tool in inspiring many slaves during the time leading up to the civil war in America. Tom himself served as a strong character who refused his masters orders when told to give up the location of two slave woman who had escaped. However, the evolution of the character changed Tom into a much weaker and older man opposed to the stronger Uncle Tom for which Stowe had intended him to be. This led to the use of the term "Uncle Tom" as somewhat a derogatory statement towards someone who is considered a traitor or a snitch. Also it can be used to describe someone who is subservient towards others. In the first quote it is used to describe the narrator and is using the form in which it describes a subservient person. This is because the man saying it was one of Ras' followers who are opposed to the brotherhood as Ras believes in a black run world. In the second quote Ras is using it to describe traitors to his group opposed to a subservient person.

c. Purpose - Ellison chooses to use this allusion opposed to just saying traitor or subservient person because it directly relates to the theme going in the novel. The idea of oppressed people is a key theme in both Invisible Man and Uncle Tom's Cabin. As a result of using this allusion it draws great emphasis to how these people are insulting and talking about the author and those who oppose Ras. It also creates the idea of comparing those who just want to integrate with white culture to Uncle Tom himself who, in later versions of the novel, is a betrayer to his own kind and gives them up.

b. Explanation - After being kicked out of the university the narrator made his way north to New York City, specifically Harlem. Entering the city underground and emerging in a new unfamiliar place is reminiscent of the way that the prophet Jonah was spat out by the great whale. Jonah was a preacher in Israel and God told him to go preach to the wicked people of Ninevah in order to save them, instead he ran away sailing in the opposite direction. God sent a whale to swallow Jonah for disobeying him, after 3 days the whale spat him out on the shores of Ninevah.
c. Purpose - The significance of this allusion is not in the body of the stories but in the circumstances of their arrival. Ellison wanted to draw some similarity between the narrator and Jonah through their sudden arrivals into strange foreign lands. Ellison wanted to provide an image for the reader in that the narrator's journey and arrival was involuntary, like Jonah he was following his own path then forcibly taken off that path only to end up in the unknown. This helps to show the reader how little control the narrator has over the path he is following and how others can manipulate that path with ease.

b. Explanation - After being kicked out of the university the narrator made his way north to New York City, specifically Harlem. Entering the city underground and emerging in a new unfamiliar place is reminiscent of the way that the prophet Jonah was spat out by the great whale. Jonah was a preacher in Israel and God told him to go preach to the wicked people of Ninevah in order to save them, instead he ran away sailing in the opposite direction. God sent a whale to swallow Jonah for disobeying him, after 3 days the whale spat him out on the shores of Ninevah.
c. Purpose - The significance of this allusion is not in the body of the stories but in the circumstances of their arrival. Ellison wanted to draw some similarity between the narrator and Jonah through their sudden arrivals into strange foreign lands. Ellison wanted to provide an image for the reader in that the narrator's journey and arrival was involuntary, like Jonah he was following his own path then forcibly taken off that path only to end up in the unknown. This helps to show the reader how little control the narrator has over the path he is following and how others can manipulate that path with ease.

“And then she began to dance, a slow sensuous movement; the smoke of a hundred cigars clinging to her like the thinnest of veils. She seemed like a fair bird-girl girdled in veils calling to me from the angry surface of some gray and threatening sea. I was transported. Then I became aware of the clarinet playing and the big shots yelling at us” (19).

Explanation: This is one of the earliest scenes of the novel. The narrator is in a room full of other black men as white men are all around them, getting ready for witness a “Battle Royal.” Before the brutal fight begins, the white men have a young, blonde girl prance around the ring totally naked. This is to distract the black men and calm them, lowering their guard and forgetting the torture that will soon fall before them all for as they stare at the girls breasts. Their fascination with the girl and inability to turn away from the “bird-like” woman is an allusion to the Sirens in Greek poet, Homer’s, Odyssey. These creatures would appear and sing so beautifully that passing sailors would jump ship into the sea or crash their vessel ashore as they could not turn away. Once ashore, the Sirens would kill all of which they encountered.

Purpose: The purpose of this allusion is the fact that the black men are being lured into the ring just as passing Greek sailors were. Ellison wanted to show that the men had no choice but to fight. They certainly could not turn away or would have been punished by the white men. The woman, although, calms them before their fight and allows them to forget the treacherous future that lies just minutes ahead of them. She is luring them into the ring as the sirens lured sailors to shore, to their metaphorical death as the Battle Royal unfolds.

Explanation- The narrator listens to Louis Armstrong in his home because he admires the way that he could use music and lyrics to express the emotions and feelings of black people in that age. He feels that, while listening to the music, he can transcend time into a dreamlike state. He also notes that while listening to Louis Armstrong, the narrator feels like he should take action to change everything he feels black and blue about.

Purpose- The allusion to Louis Armstrong and his music is used to explain the narrator’s sense of invisibility, and eventually, the identity the narrator found in that invisibility. This allusion first introduces the motif of music and its power to drive memories and transport people to another time. As the narrator listens, he is able to hear the black history woven through the music. With the song noting feelings of black and blue, Ellison uses this to demonstrate the injured racial relations at the time. Louis Armstrong uses music to express the emotions of black people: the feelings of being victimized and oppressed, the difficulties of facing a world of hatred and violence, and the sadness and fear that ruled their lives. Ellison’s novel is a written counterpart to the blues musical movement as a whole. Ellison uses Louis Armstrong’s music to show that the black individuals living at that time felt invisible, and listening to artists who felt the same way was the only way they knew they were not alone. In doing so, they become a member of a community that can unite under the oppression they have experienced and work for change, because the music inspired them to.