Postcolonialism In Battle Royal, By Ralph Ellison

The Great Writers of the Harlem Renaissance era use different forms of writing to expand upon their feelings and emotions towards the events of the time period. The short story, Battle Royal by Ralph Ellison gives a stark and graphic picture of the brutality endured in the pursuit of bettering his life and the others around him. In the story Ralph Ellison gives a speech about the importance of education in the lives of young black men on his graduation day, the speech is so moving that he is invited to give the speech in front of the important white men of the town. However once he is there he is forced to partake in a Battle Royal where he is blindfolded and beaten. Too cap the whole night off the men who fought are forced to wrestle for their

   The narrator in "Battle Royal," by Ralph Ellison, is confused and disillusioned. He is black man trapped in a world of cruelty and social inequality with nobody to guide him. He is being ripped apart in two directions by the advice of his grandfather and by the wishes of the white society which he longs to please. While attempting to satisfy their wishes, he forgets what is most important- his own dignity.

Racism is an issue that blacks face, and have faced throughout history directly and indirectly. Ralph Ellison has done a great job in demonstrating the effects of racism on individual identity through a black narrator. Throughout the story, Ellison provides several examples of what the narrator faced in trying to make his-self visible and acceptable in the white culture. Ellison engages the reader so deeply in the occurrences through the narrator’s agony, confusion, and ambiguity. In order to understand the narrators plight, and to see things through his eyes, it is important to understand that main characters of the story which contributes to his plight as well as the era in which the story takes place.

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.

In the chapter “Battle Royal” form Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and Children’s Rhymes by Langston Hughes, the colored narrators are put down by society, they have disadvantages because of their skin color. Promises were made and broken, such as liberty and justice.

	The narrator in Ellison’s short story suffers much. He is considered to be one of the brighter youths in his black community. The young man is given the opportunity to give a speech to some of the more prestigious white individuals. The harsh treatment that he is dealt in order to perform his task is quite symbolic. It represents the many

We were all humans until race disconnected us, religion separated us, politics divided us, and wealth classified us.” – Anonymous. In “Battle Royal” Ralph Ellison, displays that African-Americans being freed from slavery did not bring them equality to the white-superiors using allegory and symbolism. The grandfathers last words, the desperation of the narrator wanting to read his speech, the battle and the nightmare all represent what Ellison is displaying. The narrator opens to the audience explaining his grandfather’s last word to his father. Some of what the grandfather says is, " Live with your head in the lion's mouth. I want you to overcome 'em with yeses, undermine 'em with grins, agree 'em to death and destruction.” (2) The grandfathers last words show symbolism and appear to the narrator’s life throughout the story. What the grandfather is telling his son is to step on rocks and pebbles while he is with the white people. He is telling him to live with the fact that the whites can end him at any moment and to always say yes and nod at them. To always smile and never show anger for your life could get worse.

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

Ellison’s use of language helps imply the animalistic treatment of the young fighters (German). A writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, Michael Eric Dyson, is thoroughly amazed by Ellison’s wordplay by saying, “He spoke elegantly of the beautiful absurdity of the American identity (Dyson).” The choice of words Ellison navigate through America’s history of ideas (Dyson). The portrayal of fighters emphasize the fact that “blacks” were socially inferior. White’s would of never thought to view blacks in the same “league” with them. At this time, no one could imagine the battle royal happening with white’s fighting with an animalistic intentions, while rich, black men sat smoking cigars, cheering for brutality. By using nouns and adjectives, the description of the young fighting has a deeper, harsher connotation.

Ellison once said, “Our social mobility was strictly, and violently, limited” (German 2). The black society is portrayed in a special way in “Battle Royal.” The boxing ring of the Battle symbolizes the confinement of blacks in their society (German 2). The whites are always superior, and the blacks are constantly held back and left fighting. “The story’s title, ‘Battle Royal,’ suggests that the incidents described in the narrative are just one battle in the ongoing racial war” (Brent 2). There is constant controversy between whites and blacks, so far as it is described as a war. In the grandfather’s speech, he describes it as a war, and he states that he wants the narrator to “keep up the good fight.” He then explains how the narrator should do so; he orders him “Live with your head in the lion’s

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

"Battle Royal" is the story I chose to write about and it is written by Ralph Ellison. The reason that I chose this story is because the way the author uses symbolism. The author tries to show through symbolism that there is a different meaning than what the story says. In the beginning, the story seems to be about one black boy's struggle to get ahead in a white society. He tries' to accomplish this goal by living to his grandfathers dying words. His grand father told him to "live with your head in the lion's mouth, I want you to overcome ‘em with yes, undermine ‘em with grins, agree ‘em to death and destruction, let ‘em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open." What he meant was his grandfather was telling him

As Peter Barry observes in his Beginning Theory, postcolonial criticism emerged as a distinct category only in the 1990s. It has gained prominence through the influential books like In Other Worlds (Gayatri Spivak, 1987), the Empire Writes Back (Bill Ashcroft, 1989), Nation and Narration (Homi Bhabha, 1990) and Culture and Imperialism (Edward Said, 1993). A recurring feature of postcolonial writing is the attempt to identify the differential cultural identity. As oppositional discourse, postcolonial literature seeks to undermine the European discursive tradition that has promoted the entire process of imperialization. The postcolonial theory challenges system of conceptualizations and representation that justify and help maintain imperialist power during and after the age of colonization. As a means to achieve this end, the postcolonial theory seeks to establish a differential identity in an impulse to decolonize the mind. It challenges and resists the Western cultural hegemony. Over the last few decades postcolonial theory has evolved through different stages to encompass a variety of