Invisible Life: A Book Review
In pages 114-159 of this book, it revealed more social stigma issues. During Raymond’s hardships, his friends JJ and Kyle were always there for him. Another man was also involved in these few chapters as Quinn Mathis whom he had sexual and indoor relation was also featured. As days and months went, Raymond accidentally discovered that his indoor partner Quinn was already married by incidentally seeing a wedding ring in their shared bed. On the other note, Nicole Springer was also introduced. She became Raymond’s lover during his disorder and confusion. They began dating each other which in effect made Quinn a lesser value character.
Raymond – as the main character showed a great deal of weakness. He cannot decide for himself and he was confused with his wants and desires. At first, he tried standing up as black homosexual. It was courageous as during that time, homosexuality and a man of color are not well recognized and accepted in the United States of America. Overall, the theme focuses on the social issues that America is facing primarily homosexuality and being black. First, on homosexuality – people in general are not yet accepting the fact that most people who are part of the LGBT community are also normal individuals. As members of LGBT increases, the incidence of HIV and AIDS also rise because of premarital and unprotected sex between different partners. The next issue would be the issue on “black” people. A man of color in general is not conceptually accepted in the US. Even though America is a free country, there are some people who are racist and very conservative when it comes to association with colored people such as Asians, Latinos and predominantly on Black people in general. The lesson that this novel wants to impart on us is that we should be proud of ourselves regardless of what people think. Internal confidence and knowing our self-worth definitely plays a big part in being successful in life. It is very important that we have a helping hand such as our friends, family members and other support groups that may help us be motivated and be fit in daily challenges in life. Living each day in this modern world is very difficult and challenging but if we have the necessary dose of confidence within us, it will be easier for us to decipher. It will be very efficient for us if we know our self-worth and we know what we really want. Raymond in this novel didn’t know what he really wants and the author wants us to give Raymond as an eye opener that we should come out of our closets, come out of our cages as we find liberty to choose what we want. By that, we can freely decide our fate in our own life journey. This novel also imparts that an individual must be unique. One individual being unique means to be able to show other people your “real colors” and to be able to contribute to society regardless of race and gender. As many people may say, being unique may be weird and out of this world. You’ll never know unless you try. The author wants us to be outside the box and think of us as unique individuals that needs to be control of each of our lives.
