Battle Royal

(An emotional appeal to the audience) We are all a prostitute to something in this world doing things we don't want to do just to continue in life dealing with the forces that are constantly in our way. This is a relentless reality to the African-American people throughout the history of the United States. How much is one willing to let white men abuse and torment themselves as they dangle the keys to success right in front of oneself, all the while laughing at this “animal” that they see as nothing more than an inferior human to that of themselves as they believe that their skin color makes them superior to all of those unlike them. Ralph Ellison's Battle Royal is a story of just that, as a young, black man yearns to learn who, and what, he is in this world. He takes his grandfather's dying words to his soul of “I want you to overcome ‘em with yeses, un-determine ‘em with grins, agree ‘em to death and destruction” (Ellison 278) even then feeling uncomfortable and guilty. Through this young man's journey to find himself in this world that still laughs at the notion of racial equality, Ellison uses a viscous cast of society's highest “class”, along with men, who are both like and unlike him, who scrap at the scraps of leftovers from these white men to show this young, black man how worthless he is to white men and teach him an important lesson in his first step forward in his dive to the heart to find himself as person and the start of his journey in life as he faces racism

Both narrators are young blacks who run into adults. The narrator from “Battle Royal,” identifies himself as a “ginger-colored nigger”(pg.1152) who has distinguished himself in school, and who has given a superb speech at

Battle Royal is a short story that metaphorically address many such issues such as racial discrimination. The Author, Ralph Ellison, uses symbolism such as blindness and the concept of initiation to compare the world to a real life battlefield. Ellison intended to emphasize, both passive and aggressive elements of battle is necessary to achieve the American Dream.

Racism was a harsh reality for African Americans after the American slave era and is a prominent theme in the short story “Battle Royal”. This story highlights how racism is not only a powerful tool used to keep people down but can also promote savagery. The author, Ralph Ellison, uses vivid imagery to depict the acts of savagery shown by both the slaves and the white crowd.

These battles are directly represented by the barbarous fighting by 10 boys in a ring, being witnessed by whites in high social standing. Totally engrossed by the fighting these men yelled cruel things and became frenzied. This is representative of the how our nation’s white population treated African Americans for many years. Often they took a stance of authority, feeling superior to the black minorities. This belief is portrayed by the men’s angered actions toward the boys.

Institutionalized racism remains as one of the dominate ways in which one race stays in control over other races, in “Battle Royal” by Ralph Ellison its illustrated socially, also economically in African Americans but it’s displayed through the men. In other words, the history of battling to survive and overcome institutionalized racism is the same as the battle of slavery the protagonist and is family are giving the tools to survive before the patriarch of the family dies. These two issues of social and economic are just two ways in which the elite whites kept African Americans in servitude and bondage of the mind, having them to think they couldn’t achieve greatness in life except for what was allowed by the dominate race. The narration within “Battle Royal” depicts a struggle that is passed down from one generation to the next until an elder in the family leaves a plan of survival.

Ultimately, the narrator realizes because of racial stereotypes, people see him for how they want to see him; he decides to be invisible. During the battle royal scene, the black men, including the narrator, transform into the racial stereotype of a violent animal, “The boys groped about like blind cautious crabs crouching to protect their mid-sections, their heads pulled in short against their shoulders…” (23). The men don’t realize they are acting like servile savages because they are wearing blindfolds; they are blinded by the truth. In addition, when the African-Americans try to collect the fake coins on the electrified ground, again they

It is natural in all humans to try to impress the people that they revere, and often times, this admiration can be blinding. Despite his grandfather’s dying words being advice to wage war on the whites, the narrator of James Ellison’s “Battle Royal” experiences this craving for approval from the esteemed whites of his town. All of the narrator’s troubles begin with the preconceived notion that the whites are superior to the blacks. The short story, told in hindsight, displays the narrators quest to impress the whites with his commencement speech, and the hurdles he has to jump through for their approval. Through his usage of voice, the author shows how blacks made such an effort to impress the whites, whom they thought were superior, that they neglected to stand up to the injustices that they were faced with.

Racial subordination of African Americans was a major national problem during the first half of the 20th century. In particular, during the 1940s, the South was the center of an intense racial struggle. The fight for equality by African Americans was still rife during the time (Berg 5). Published in 1947, Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal” illustrates this struggle as the author writes about a narration of a young black man who struggled with the aim of getting ahead in a society that was for the most part dominated by the white. Specifically, the author uses the protagonist’s characterization and setting to create insight into the racial tension of the Deep South during segregation. The story is set in the Deep South, during the 1940s, to help illustrate how racial discrimination was a systematic problem for African Americans.

Narrated by an older and wiser version of the main character, “Battle Royal” is an allegory for a black man trapped in a white man’s world, and Ellison writes it so that every detail holds symbolic connotations. From the claustrophobic smoke, to the American flag tattoo, to the restraining white blindfolds, symbolism is utilized everywhere. Following the delivery of his speech, the superintendent presents the narrator with a “prize”: a “gleaming calfskin brief case.” By simply calling this gift a prize, all the previous events of subjecting himself to the whims of the white men appear more honorable—the battle royal, the scuffle for coins on the electric rug, the delivery of the speech as the narrator was choking on blood; all are transformed into a meaningful experience to be proud of when, in reality, they were all very degrading upon the narrator as people treated him like to an animal and saw him as nothing but a mere source of entertainment. Nonetheless, he is told by the superintendent to “keep it well” and “Prize it,” giving the gift a sense of greater value and increasing the narrator’s blindness to the hidden intentions of the gesture.

How would you feel if you were trying to succeed in life but there was a greater force holding you back? Ralph Ellison uses setting, irony, and symbolism in “Battle Royal” to further explain how African Americans were treated in regards to social equality. In the Deep South racism was very common and unfortunately it lead to many cruel things. Many people were mistreated and disrespected for no reason other than their skin color. The white man wanted to keep the African Americans separated from them despite the laws passed. Many African Americans were treated like slaves even though they clearly were not slaves anymore. Symbols used in the story give us clues to things like the American dream. The American dream is what every American is trying to achieve whether it is becoming rich or just being truly free from racism. The irony portrayed shows just how African Americans were treated and how it must have felt to just live everyday life. The setting is

Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal” the first chapter of his novel Invisible Man, talks about the social inequality, racism, and discrimination because of the color of someone’s skin. Which tells the reader that this story takes place somewhere between the 1940’s and 1950’s before the Civil Rights Movement. During this time period African Americans were known as Negros or colored folks. The story starts off with the Grandfather who is on his death bed telling his son to teach his grandson how he should act so that he is respectable to the white man. In “The Birthmark”

Implying that the battle, resonates to that of the racial conflict and issues of social standing; which help to solidify the meaning of Ellison’s Marxist composition. To complicate the point, the title of the book is “Battle Royal”, alluding to the great conflict that the narrator was lured into; while juxtaposing the aliments of the Black community endless struggle towards finding recognition and equity in society. Therefore; asserting the claim that the battle, in the passage contextualize to the most core message of the novel proving the conflicting aspect shown by the story and how these sentiments were just specific, to the narrator but, to millions of African-Americans around the country; more in depth, this epic battle aligns with his (the narrator) grandfather’s message foreshadowed earlier in the passage; proclaiming the need for such hostilities, to foster the fight for social recognition of equality to that of the “fairer race” (Ellison pg. 294). The conflict also provokes the pursuit for freedom of future black generation towards recognition and other factors of social equity, which adds to the entity of the story. this addition exhibited when the narrator overcomes his battles later in the book when he’s in his dark apartment and he realizes he’s been blind in the entirety of his life, he

“Battle Royal” is a short story written by Ralph Ellison; The plot starts off when the narrator is preparing to deliver his oration speech at this local gathering lead by mostly rich White men. However, the gathering goes very downhill and the narrator including his peers are forced to participate in disturbing activities that involve mostly embarrassing themselves. Once the narrator finally gets to deliver his speech, he’s faced with confrontation and ridicule from the audience. Yet, in the end, he receives a four-year scholarship to a Black college and ends up having an odd dream about his late grandfather. In the short story, some of the events that occur show that regardless of one’s discipline, they will still be met with judgment.

​Growing up in a certain era and the events occurring are important, and often, we do not realize how much of an impact it has on the way we live on the day-to-day basis. Whether it is the way in which we use technology, the way we think all in all or the way that we dress. Our lifestyles are affected as a whole. Today, people of different races are able to come together as one, whereas a few decades ago, everything and everyone was once segregated. Ralph Ellison, author of “Battle Royal”, wrote this story from a first-person singular point-of-view. Throughout the story, the reader can easily interpret how the narrator’s level of self-awareness shifts. This highlights an important theme of identity and the true self. The narrator’s younger self was rather naïve, not aware of what was going on in the times in which he lived, whereas his present self was more knowing of his true self by the end of the story. The time period in which this story took place is vital. It was around the 1940s, and this is when the Jim Crow laws were highly enforced. During this time, things were hard for the people of color, and because there was a set way of doing things in this era, many of the acts performed were indisputable. In Ellison’s story, the protagonist’s language reveals his poor level of self-awareness and the power struggle that is