Johnnie Wilcox's Narrative Analysis

370 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Racism in literature

Johnnie Wilcox expresses in her article that, “The differing spontaneous reaction of these men suggests that sexuality, like race, generates contradictory responses even from subjects located inside the system” (105). This is not the only instance where characters in the story demonstrate contradictory behavior. For example, the white man’s behavior towards the black fighters is cruel at times, but caring at other times. Before the fight the narrator notes that, “One of the men seemed to feel a bit sympathetic and tried to cheer us up as we stood with our backs against the ropes” (Ellison 234). On the other hand, immediately following another of the white males is directing that, “ I want you to run across at the bell and give it to him right

Show More
Related

  • Mabo Film Techniques

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    Racism is a prominent theme throughout biographical film. The ways in which Eddie reacts and deals with the racism positions the viewers to see Eddie as resilient and tough. When Eddie is denied a drink in the pub because he is

    Read More

  • White Supremacism In Battle Royal, By Ralph Ellison

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    They say things in the young men’s ears like, “I want you to run across at the bell and give it to him right in the belly. If you don’t get him, I’m going to get you. I don’t like his looks” (229). The men are repeatedly called “nigger” instead of by their actual names. They are turned against their own kind. The nameless character makes it to the last of the battle royal. He keeps trying to bargain with his opponent to let him win and he’d pay him. But the man had it in his mind that he wasn’t fighting for the guest of the evening but for himself. This is so untrue. He wouldn’t have even been there had he not been forced to attend and perform. Nothing could represent black ignorance more than the train of thought of these two men. The nameless black citizen just wants to look good in front of the men that put him in the ring and his opponent really believes he’s in control of what’s going on.

    Read More

  • Unrealisticism In A & P By John Updike And Araby

    1154 Words  | 3 Pages

    Though, when one examines their true purpose and commentary it is revealed to be a direct assault on the principles of what it means to be a man. Both short stories depict men whose only purpose is to impress females; or, men who are simply foolish. While both stories are misogynistic superficially as the men treat the women as sex objects, the true offence is the misandristic stereotype that this is what a typical teenage boy would do. This idea permeates through the entirety of both stories. This irresponsible idealism negatively effects ones view of males as a gender. This leaves one question, if the misogyny of the stories is widely reputed, why is the misandry blatantly

    Read More

  • Battle Royal

    659 Words  | 2 Pages

    Indeed, the narrator comes from a long line of black men who’ve felt the difficult struggles while trying to live alongside the white people. The protagonist speaks of his grandparents, who felt after the civil war, they were free, but on his deathbed, however, the grandfather spoke to the narrator’s father, telling the protagonist’s father that he himself felt like a traitor. He advised the narrator’s father to subvert the whites. The narrator recalls a speech he had given in high school—one that spoke of ways to advance as a black man in America. With great success, the protagonist is invited to deliver this speech to his community’s white citizens. Upon arriving, the narrator is told to take part in what is called a battle royal; believing its part of the entertainment, the narrator agrees to take part. The white men then blindfold the youths and order them to begin fighting each other. The narrator lasts until the last round, when he suffers a loss. After the men have removed the blindfolds, they lead the black men to a rug covered with coins and bills. The boys dive for the money, but discover that an electric current runs through the rug. Having endured the battle royal, and when it comes time for the narrator to give his speech, the white men all laugh and ignore him. When the narrator accidently says “social equali...

    Read More

  • Willie Lynch

    1859 Words  | 4 Pages

    Back to Willie Lynch, every versus tandem he has put together is that of a problem in the Black society: Old Male vs. Young Male, Male vs. Female and the age old battle of Light Skinned vs. Dark Skinned. The Old Male vs. Young Male is not so much of a problem because there will always be some type of generation clash, but the other two are somewhat of a problem. In the case of Male vs. Female due to Willie Lynch I will say that it is bitter sweet.

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography On Black Masculinity In The South

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is interesting that the authors are both females, and choose to write on a topics concerning manhood. However, I am sure this research spiked their attention from observing their children, husband, and those around them. Both give significant amount of examples that black men were wrongly treated and negatively denoted in the south. Chapter 7, The Politics of Black Land Tenure 1877-1915, talks about the evolution of black agriculture in the southern states Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. The chapter also mentions the positive of this movement as well as the illegal hanging of black people. This shows how the south after the Civil War began their new acts of racism. This is one of the first books that focus on historic issues concerning black men’s masculinities in many aspects. Hine and Jenkins uses the Civil War through the 19th century time period to focus on black men’s lives in their occupations, families, sports, military, leadership, and their image in society. The authors use history journals and academic periodicals to provide pertinent information to their readers. All of there information is substantial and very creditable because of their careful construction of questioning

    Read More

  • Invisible Man

    953 Words  | 2 Pages

    The men demonstrate their authority over him and his classmates. A prime instance of this is the dancing woman. The ten fighters were positioned in the front of the ballroom. Then the woman was exhibited, all eyes were on her. She was completely naked, except for her makeup and a tattoo of the American flag. Her face was “heavily powdered and rouged… [her] eyes hollow and smeared a cool blue.” (1256). She represents America, and therefore freedom. The men in the audience even though they are just as fixated as the fighters, have more control. In their society, they are allowed to look at a white woman. The fighters however, are black, and therefore are supposed to suppress any thoughts regarding her so they do not get killed. This display also serves to rob them of some of their masculinity.

    Read More

  • The Movie Industry and Western Cultural Values

    898 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...back. The white males probably weren’t expecting the reaction back from the black cop and since he reacted he sent people after him threaten him to leave but he didn’t. he stood up for himself and stood his ground by not acting off of the threat he received. This movie gives us an insight into the perceived relationship that exist between the different races in that era The sincere fiction in this film was show the whites seen the non white officer by him thinking because he’s a cop he can interrogate a white male. Even though he wore the police uniform he still wasn’t looked at as an equal or a man of power, he still was looked at as a black. We as a society tend to dismiss films as mere forms of entertainment. Both movies gives us different perspectives on the hegemonic ideology and society’s grasp of the roles of whites and blacks and what both represent to us.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Battle Color, By Ralph Ellison

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    When a human being is underestimated because of his race, it is a disgrace to the entire human race. The characters are not only humiliated for their skin color, but for their sexuality too: “ He was the largest of the group, wearing dark and red fighting trunks much too small to conceal the erection which projected from him as though in answer to the insinuating low-registered moaning of the clarinet. He tried to hide himself with his box gloves” (20). White guys are playing with their nature. The sex drive is used as a control mechanism. A sexual desire is something that every normal human experience, but the blacks are humiliated for their sexuality. During all the battle, white people try to demonstrate that they are more powerful and that they decide everything: “The music had quickened. As the dancer flung herself about with a detached expression on her face, the men began reaching out to touch her” (20). And again it is the same thing; whites show that they are greater than blacks. Whites could have the dancer while blacks cannot. Even if the battle is about to begin, the narrator still believes that he is in the hotel only for his

    Read More

  • After The Fainting Incidents: The Case Of Mr. Norton

    307 Words  | 1 Pages

    After the fainting incidents, the black veteran sits down with Mr. Norton and the narrator. In this conversation, the veteran spices in many hidden and overt stances about the treatment of blacks in America at the time. Outnumbered from a racial standpoint, Mr. Norton began to feel severely uncomfortable. Somehow the narrator also felt uneasy about the conversation because he felt responsible for Mr. Norton throughout his experience. By taking Mr. Norton to such a shady joint in the first place likely was not the right move, much less getting a civil rights talk from a black veteran who undermined a lot of the work that Mr. Norton had done. Now I am by no stretch saying that Mr. Norton was a noble, good-hearted man, but I explain it that way

    Read More

  • Themes In Battle Royal, By Ralph Ellison

    1197 Words  | 3 Pages

    He uses the values and expectations to try to define himself. All that comes from that was him having to fake it to make it, still not finding out who his is as a person. Later on in the story when the narrator chooses to join the Brotherhood, he doing this is because he thinks that he can fight his way to racial equality by doing this. Once he enters in to this he figures out that they just want to use him because he was black. While at the place where this battle royal was going to take place is where some of the most important men in town are "quite tipsy", belligerent and out of control. When he gets in the ballroom there is a naked girl dancing on the table at the front of the room. He wants her and at the same time wants her to go away, "to caress her and destroy her" is what is states in the story. The black boys who were to take part in the battle were humiliated, some passed out, others pleaded to go home. But the white men paid no attention. The white men end up attacking the girl, who is described as having the same terror and fear in her eyes as the black boys. Over all, the narrator comes to conclusion that the racial prejudice of others influences them to only see him as they want to see him, and this affects his ability to act because

    Read More

  • Masculinity In We Real Cool

    344 Words  | 1 Pages

    Comparably, the criminalization of Black men in America is as prevalent and dangerous. In her 2004 work We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity, bell hooks eulogizes the 1997 film Amistad, praising its portrayal of Black men and the difference between this portrayal of Black men versus another movie that enforces the gangster and buffoon stereotypes. Reading through accounts of history, men back in Africa - where gender was determinative to their role in the community; these men were innocent until their right to dominated women was seen as necessary to be taught to them and this patriarchal masculinity was implemented into the minds of these young men. Part of reconstruction process of Black masculinity was, by many men, to fight; Frederick

    Read More

  • The Struggle for Equality and Identity in Ralph Ellison's Battle Royal

    923 Words  | 2 Pages

    At first, the boys are taken to a room where a nude woman is dancing. When the boys turn their heads away, they are yelled at for not looking. The tone of the rebuke implies that the blacks were not entitled to most of the ‘good’ things being white could bring them and that they weren’t really good enough for them. The boys then compete in the Battle Royal. This classic example of symbolism shows the fight African Americans have been putting up against an unfair system over time and how it was necessary to persevere and have courage even when hope diminished. The boys fiercely beat one another. This may perhaps also represent in some small part the extent to which a united community’s harmony may be disrupted and damaged...

    Read More

  • Bullfighting In The Sun Also Rises

    2008 Words  | 5 Pages

    First, let us look at the striking parallels between Jake, and the two lesser Matadors as it portrays the reality that Jake does not fit in with the crowd of men that he is hanging out with. Much like the two lesser matadors, Jake does not have the ability to be as manly as the other men in his friend group due to his war injury. While Mike is engaged to Brett, Cohn had a fling with Brett and was very involved with Frances, and Bill has the ability to be involved with women whenever he wants to be, Jake on the other hand can only reminisce about his past standing as a true man, however Jake covers up this deficiency by appearing to be very knowledgeable about things that are generally considered manly such as boxing, fishing and, bull-fighting, which leads to his acceptance as a man- such as Montanya "Catching my eye and nodded his head."(167). as a sign of recognition and respect. The same thing is apparent with the two less skilled matadors, as they simply used tactics to make it appear that they were true matadors like Pedro, with tactics such as "twisting themselves like cork-screws, their elbows raised, and leaned against the flanks of the bull after the horns had passed, to give a

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative Analysis

    539 Words  | 2 Pages

    Two minutes and thirty seconds to do what I do best. I stand in my spot and wait for the music to start. My stomach is in knots and my heart is beating like a drum. The music starts and without hesitation, so do I. I begin to lose breath due to constant jumping, tumbling, and stunting. My fingers twiddle, and I prepare for my finally pass: front walkover round off triple back- handspring. Nailed it! It’s time for end dance. No tumbling or jumping, just dancing my heart out. I hit my ending pose and smile because I know that I performed my best. A few hours go by and it’s time for awards. My stomach begins to turn again as we wait to be announced. “First place and Grand Champions goes to… TDC Allstars!” I am ecstatic, we have just won U.S. Finals.

    Read More

More about Johnnie Wilcox's Narrative Analysis

Open Document