The eponymous narrator in The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison could be a hero.  By the end of the novel, the narrator is a hero to himself but a could-have-been hero to everyone else.

            He is a hero to himself because he goes on a journey of self-discovery and ends up finding himself as an individual.  He is more than a stereotype because he learns to think, and act, for himself.  He starts off naïve and submissive but then grows to learn that he has to rescue himself from the downward spiral of giving into the stereotypes and prejudices of everyone around him.  He has moments when he only listens to what the Brotherhood tells him, not truly remembering what was important to him.  When he misses the chance to make a difference, he finds himself in a hole, literally, and at the end of the novel, he finally realizes that he has to come back up.  Because of his individuality and self-awareness, he is a hero.

            However, he is not a traditional hero because he does not always put everyone else’s interests before his.  He judges other people, demonstrating the same racism and stereotypes that other people judge him by.  However, he also starts making a difference for the people in Harlem, getting them to think about “social responsibility” and cooperating with everyone, blacks and whites.  This brief moment of heroism, along with his presence in Harlem, vanishes when he starts listening solely to the Brotherhood.  When he comes back, everything is different and he gives in to the changes, until he realizes that he’s had enough of hiding at the end of the novel.  I view his solitude and isolation in the hole as a stage that most heroes go through when they try to understand what they are meant to do. Usually after heroes are through with isolation is when they start living up to their potential.
             Overall, the narrator is a hero to himself but not to other people.  He is a hero to himself because of his individuality.  He does not conform and his ability to think for himself and create his own opinions are what make him heroic