Battle Royal - Ralph Ellison Research Paper

"Battle Royal" gives the reader a frightening look at just how society looks at blacks. In the

“Battle Royal” provides a realistic portrait of the difficulty of being a black person in a

The story “Battle Royal”, by Ralph Ellison is about a young black man who has to overcome racial inequalities. The story opens with his grandfather dying words and leaving the family with words that stick with the main character for life. The main character, whose name in not mentioned, is very intelligent and because of this the prominent white businessmen ask him to give a speech at a hotel. Upon his arrival, the white men put him through many humiliating acts for their enjoyment. There is a boxing match and also an electric carpet, but the boy preservers through them all. At the end he is finally given a chance to deliver his speech. Although the men are being inattentive, the superintendent rewards the boy

At the beginning of “Battle Royal,” the author, Ralph Ellison writes “…first I had to discover that I am an invisible man!” (1149). The narrator of the story has come to feel this way as a result of the actions of the white men in the story. The men seem to see the narrator’s physical being, however they lack to gain a sense of what he is able to accomplish. They refuse to acknowledge the greatness in which he is capable of due to the color of his skin. Because the story takes place during the early 1900’s, racism plays a prominent role within everyday lives. The main event which may elaborate on this statement is when the protagonist is granted the opportunity to deliver a speech, which is very important to him. The racism occurs during this event when his audience flat out ignores him and continues to talk over him until he says something that they don’t necessarily agree with. The white men seem to instantly take charge of his fate and tear the protagonist down in order to show that they are the ones who hold all of the power. This keeps the main character feeling helpless and a sense of invisibility.

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.

     If I had to pick one out of the many stories that we have read and say

In the novel, Invisible Man, the author presents us with an individual, who goes by “Invisible Man”, whose values are invisible to the world he lives in. Throughout the entire novel, we see the narrator, struggle in an attempt to show his identity that is often foreshadowed daily by years of oppression from whites. Ellison shows us how lies may perceive our society but was an invaluable obstacle that could be broken, to one’s journey to find their true identity. The author used imagery, symbols, and invisibility throughout this novel. Ellison continued to portray hard obstacles that played in an African American life to establish their real identity along with the necessity

Authors use different genres of writing to portray their literary messages amongst these genres there are poems and short stories. Battle Royal written by Ralph Ellison is a short story about an African American boy who receives some cryptic advice from his grandfather that ultimately causes him to discover that he must stand up for African Americans and not be a coward like his grandfather was. The poem “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Dunbar is about dishonesty and deception, lying about ones feelings and in a sense hiding ones true emotions with a “mask.” Both of these forms of writing convey an overall message that people do not always speak the truth because they are afraid to do so. They hide behind a façade pretending to be something they are not, thinking they are doing what is best but in reality are only hurting themselves. The poem, “We Wear the Mask” does an overall better job at conveying this message than the short story, Battle Royal. “We Wear the Mask” communicates this message in a much clearer and concise manner. While in Battle Royal, the reader would have to do some research on the time period in order to fully understand the grandfather’s true meaning behind his words. Poetry uses symbolism, tone, and punctuation to provide deeper knowledge behind the author’s words and can give the reader a better understanding of the authors message in a few short stanza’s than a story could in a few pages.

The native Africans' heritage and way of life were forever altered by the white slave drivers who took them into captivity in the 18th century. Along with their freedom, slaves were also robbed of their culture and consequently their identities. They became property instead of people, leaving them at the hands of merciless slave owners. Their quest to reclaim their stolen identities was a long and difficult struggle, especially in the years following the Civil War and the subsequent release of their people from bondage. In Ralph Ellison's 1948 short story "Battle Royal," he uses the point of view of a young black man living in the south to convey the theme of racial identity crisis that faced African Americans in the United States

Contradistinctively to Ellison’s “Battle Royal,” W.E.B. Du Bois’ “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington,” contains a more positive and supportive aspect. Du Bois states, “First it is the duty of the black men to judge the South discriminatingly. The present generation of Southerners are not responsible for the past, and they should not be blindly hated or blamed for it” (De Bois 1166). By stating this, the author is defending the African race by claiming that the punishment for the actions of their ancestors should not be burdened with them. We read that the sons of a black person’s master will sometimes want to help rise and benefit the individual. Du Bois claims, “National opinion has enabled this last class to maintain the Negro common schools, and to protect the Negro partially in property, life, and limb” (1166). This tells readers that the African race is beginning to receive their rights, along with having opportunities to access them.

In the Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison explained and exposed how was the America society values different people in the same society. Ellison presented the mask of lie and deception that the African American or the people of Colored had to wear all the time to hidden their misery. Also, to impress the white American due to the fact that they were building and investing in the schools which were the African American educating in. As well as that the white people were controlling and owning the markets and the businesses while the Colored people were just employers which made in a weak spot. Ralph Ellison has used the first person narrater, dramatic irony, and the power of language or words to show the values of the African American.

In the 1950s African Americans were treated unfairly and discriminated against. During the post civil war time tensions were still high, the discrimination and separation between the blacks and whites was still prevalent. Discrimination is portrayed through Jim Crow laws, which affected every African American tremendously, the narrator’s experience at the Battle Royal, and the narrator 's transition from the black college to New York and The Brotherhood. In the Invisible Man, Ellison utilizes characterization to represent the division between whites and blacks in America in the 1950s.

In the novel Invisible Man, race and racism is a constant issue of equality and inequality. In the 1960s, a black man confronts racism against not only to white folks, but society’s from degradation, but the narrator 's experiences in the battle royal and his role in perceived the Brotherhood organization. However, the novel goes more in-depth in a race that makes it hard to find an individual identity. Finding out that the outside context of racism is more imposed into others while the narrator if mostly shocked with the idea of showing off values and knowledge when it came to the college experience that the narrator desire. The overall perception of the narrator skin color and social status conflict with his idea of the true reality that

Racial discrimination represents an issue which damages the foundation of any civilized society – it turns people against each other and has no basis except ignorance and thirst for power. Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man” approaches this problem through the eyes of a young black man, at the beginning of the twentieth century in America, an invisible entity without a voice in a divided society, in which political decisions are made by the white people in power.

In the novel, Invisible Man, the author presents us with an individual, who goes by “Invisible Man”, whose values are invisible to the world he lives in. Throughout the entire novel, we see the narrator, struggle in an attempt to show his identity that is often foreshadowed daily by years of oppression from whites. Ellison shows us how lies may perceive our society but was an invaluable obstacle that could be broken, to one’s journey to find their true identity. The author used imagery, symbols, and invisibility throughout this novel. Ellison continued to portray hard obstacles that played in an African American life to establish their real identity along with the necessity