Battle Royal Ralph Ellison Character Analysis

In Ralph Ellison’s novel “Invisible Man”, Ten young African American boys are thrown blindfolded into a ring and are forced to fight for the enjoyment of higher class white men in what the narrator calls a “Battle Royal” (Ellison p.17). Included in this battle royal is the main character, who was unwillingly thrown into the fight at the last second. Although the young African American men were initiated into the white society through the battle royal, they were not initiated as equals, and during the degrading fight, the narrator can only think of giving his speech.
The African American men are not initiated as equals to the white men in the sense that they are not given the option to leave the fight and are being degraded for their

entertainment. The men were given the chance to make their own money by fighting in the battle royal but once they were there, they were not given the option to leave; the narrator tells us “But as we tried to leave we were stopped and ordered to get into the ring” (Ellison p.21). Even though the men have the choice to join the fight because they are part of society now, they are being shown that they are not equal to the white men by being forced to stay. After being subjected to countless threats and degrading name calling, the men are forced to fight on their hands and knees for money on an electrified rug. This was all for the entertainment of the white men and when the African American men were not getting shocked enough “The men began to push us onto the rug” (Ellison p.27). This shows that the white men didn’t care for the wellbeing of the African American men but wanted to see them in as much pain as possible. Being forced to stay at the battle royal and the way the white men treated the African American men shows that they do not truly see them as equals.
Even though the narrator is in a blindfolded fight with nine other men, he can only think about giving his speech.

As the fight became more intense the white men began to become more threatening, the narrator tells us “I had begun to worry about my speech again” (Ellison p.24). With men blindly throwing punches and yelling threats all around him, he couldn’t help but worry about his speech and how it would go. While the narrator was left alone in the ring with the largest of the fighters there was still only one thing on his mind “I wanted to deliver my speech more than anything else in the world, because I felt that only these men could judge truly my ability, and now this stupid clown was ruining my chances.” (Ellison p.25). Even in a one on one fight with the biggest of the men he could only think about how badly he wanted to give his speech. No matter what was going on around the narrator his speech continued to be his focus.
The African American men are initiated into the white society but not equals to the white men. They are still seen as inferior and this is shown through the way their choice to leave is taken away and they are degraded for entertainment. The narrators focus was on his speech during the battle royal and how well it would go. While fighting the other men he could only worry about giving his speech at the

end.