The narrator in “Battle Royal”, by Ralph Ellison, is too naive and meek to challenge his place in a society ruled by whites. He is a young, black man trapped in a world blighted with social inequality with limited opportunity to advance in life just because of his race. He is torn apart by his grandfather's advice and by his desire to please members of white society. Ellison uses satire and symbolism to depict the narrators struggle for equality and identity.
The narrator is haunted by his grandfather's dying words. Speaking to the narrator's father, the narrator's grandfather expresses his guilt and shame he is burdened with for being “ a traitor” to his race. The narrator's grandfather urges his family to kill the white man with kindness and obedience. After his grandfather's death, the narrator is invited to give his graduation speech to the city's upper-class white men. His speech is contradictory to his grandfather's last words by urging the black race to advance forward in society by humility and submission to white society.
When the narrator arrives to give his speech, he is forced to participate in a fight with fellow classmates to entertain the most prominent town leaders who were “quite tipsy” and out of control. As the narrator and the other boys – all of them black – are rushed into the ballroom for the fight, he notices a naked white woman dancing in the room. Most of the boys are hesitant to look. Some passed out while other pleaded to go home. The narrator lusts for the woman and at the same time wishes she would go away; he wishes to “caress her and destroy her.”
The narrator notices an American flag tattooed on the naked woman's lower stomach. This is ironic due to the fact to the United States is almost alwa...
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...e still talking and laughing.” The crowd only pauses to criticize him when he mentions social equality. Even though the men are honoring him by allowing him to give his speech, he is reminded that they are belittling him and his race because he is being honored for obeying them rather than trying to further his race socially.
After his speech, he is awarded a briefcase. Inside was a scholarship to an all black college. He is told that one day he will guide his people down the “right” path. That night the narrator dreams that his grandfathers tells him to open his briefcase. Inside is a document that says, “ To Whom It May Concern: Keep This Nigger Boy Running.” He wakes up to the sound of his grandfather's laughter. The author uses this last line to criticize African-Americans for not recognizing the problems of social inequality and standing up for themselves.
...ir eyes off of the naked women dancing. The outbursts towards the black men is farther evidence that during that time, blacks had little to no say and had not felt equal to their white counterparts. Perhaps the most conspicuous symbol of all is the battle itself. The white men pitted a group of black men against each other; the black men were in a no win situation. Instead of expressing their displeasure with the white men, the black men were forced to take their anger out on each other. The narrator also seems to seek approval by the white men; remembering his speech as he fights the other men. According to the protagonist: Should I try to win against the voice out there? Would not this go against my speech, and was not this a moment for humility, for nonresistance?” ( ). He’s worried about defying the white men; letting them down by not performing well enough.
Coates wrote a 176 page long letter to his 14 years old son to explain what the African American society were going through at the time being. In the book, Coates used himself as an example to demonstrate the unjust treatment that had been cast upon him and many other African Americans. Readers can sense a feeling of pessimism towards African American’s future throughout the entire book although he did not pointed it out directly.
Within his journey he was able to learn a tremendous amount of information about himself as well as the society he lived in. Although in order for this to happen he had to exile from his former hometown. After graduating high school the narrator went off to college and had the honor of driving one of the schools founders. While driving Mr. Norton, one of the school founders, the narrator went on a tangent about different things that has happened on campus. He soon mentioned Trueblood and his actions with his daughter to Mr. Norton, Afterwards the narrator led Mr. Norton to the bar/asylum. This is when the real troubles begin. Mr. Bledsoe, the college’s president, found out about the narrators doings and expelled him. When he expelled the narrator, Mr. Bledsoe sent him to New York with seven letters to get a job. By the narrator being exiled he now has a chance to experience life on his own and use the knowledge from his experience to enrich his life and others. The narrator’s trial and tribulations will speak for the feelings and thoughts of many African Americans in the 1940s
Many papers seem to show good fortune for the narrator, but only provide false dreams. The narrator’s prize of a brief case containing his scholarship first illustrates this falsehood: “take this prize and keep it well. Consider it a badge of office. Prize it. Keep developing as you are and some day it will be filled with important papers that will help shape the destiny of your people” (32). The narrator is filled with joy from receiving his scholarship and brief case but subconsciously knows of the shallowness of the superintendent’s heart felt speech. Ellison shows this subconscious knowledge through the narrator’s dream of receiving a letter of deep and truthful meaning: “And I did and in it I found an engraved document containing a short message in letters of gold…” “To Whom It May Concern,” I intoned. “Keep This Nigger-Boy Running” (33). Even though it is just a dream, the white people actually do want to keep the narrator and his race running after false dreams.
Douglass, Frederick. The Heroic Slave. In Violence In the Black Imagination. Ed, Ronald T. Takaki. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
The narrator’s beliefs lie in obedience, while Bledsoe holds to a much more complex interpretation. For example, after being accused of purposely taking Mr. Norton to the slave quarters, the narrator tries to explain his innocence, stating that “‘he asked me to’” (102). However, Bledsoe responds, “‘Damn what he wants… We take these white folks where we want them to go, we show them what we want them to see’” (102). This statement, which clearly illustrates Bledsoe’s conformist ideology, strikes a blow at the core beliefs of the narrator, causing him to question how his obedience to white authority could land him in such a predicament. Despite keeping “unswervingly to the path placed before [him],” (146) the narrator struggles to comprehend how his dutiful actions could lead to the destruction of his future. This shattering of beliefs forces him to adopt an even more stringent policy of conformism as he heads off to New York. However, his attempts at conforming to the expectations of the college fail miserably, furthering him along his path towards individual identity. This act of disenchantment is a step in the right direction on his path towards personal
Authors use figurative language to express nuanced ideas, those that beggar literal description. Such language provides the author an opportunity to play with his reader’s imagination and sense. A piece of literature that uses figurative language is more intriguing and engaging than a writing that aims only to explain. Ralph Ellison’s use of figurative language in “The Battle Royal” paints a powerful and unique story of oppression and the struggle for self-discovery. His juxtaposition of literal and figural language gave the story a dream like quality, all while creating a profound and vivid image.
At the smoker, 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. He wants her and at the same time wants her to go away, "to caress her and destroy her". 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.
He portrays the racist tendency of people to assume black men are potentially violent and dangerous. He describes about a white woman’s reaction when she and him were walking on same street but on the opposite sides during the night. He says that women seemed to be worried, she felt uneasy and she thought that he was ‘menacingly close’. He even shares his experience on how he was taken as a burglar, mistaken as a killer and forced out of a jewelers store while doing assignment for a local paper. The reason behind being kicked out of the jeweler store and women running away was because he was a black man. During that period black men were stereotyped as rapist, murderer, and gang members. These names upon a person’s personality can hinder ones feelings and can also affect ones confidence level. Thus stereotyping can cause a person to miss opportunities and the person might face difficulties in building relationships with specific types of people. (Brent
In the beginning, the author describes the scene as one during which a married couple in their late thirties are going out to eat at a restaurant to celebrate a special occasion. The imagery is used to describe the setting and what is going to take place in the story. Toward the middle, the author begins describing the story in greater detail. The author does this by describing the look of the birthday cake, the sound of the orchestra, and the reactions of those in the restaurant. By doing this, the reader is able to place themselves in the scene as if they are watching the event unfold. At the end of the story, the diction is used to elicit a reaction from the reader. The husband was described as being not pleased and instead as “hotly embarrassed and indignant.” The wife is described as being heartbroken and hopeless. By describing the situation in this way, the reader is meant to feel disgusted with the husband and sympathetic toward the wife. By describing the scene in a certain way through imagery and diction, the author is able to control the reader’s
Baldwin and his ancestors share this common rage because of the reflections their culture has had on the rest of society, a society consisting of white men who have thrived on using false impressions as a weapon throughout American history. Baldwin gives credit to the fact that no one can be held responsible for what history has unfolded, but he remains restless for an explanation about the perception of his ancestors as people. In Baldwin?s essay, his rage becomes more directed as the ?power of the white man? becomes relevant to the misfortune of the American Negro (Baldwin 131). This misfortune creates a fire of rage within Baldwin and the American Negro. As Baldwin?s American Negro continues to build the fire, the white man builds an invisible wall around himself to avoid confrontation about the actions of his ?forefathers? (Baldwin 131). Baldwin?s anger burns through his other emotions as he writes about the enslavement of his ancestors and gives the reader a shameful illusion of a Negro slave having to explai...
Casa Blanca is an amazingly put together film directed to perfection. The film Casa Blanca directed Michael Curtiz is a story of heroism describing an individual’s ability to sacrifice his deepest passion in order to fulfill a better cause for humanity. Michael Curtiz uses narrative structure, mise-en-sien, cinematography, acting style and sound to show how the main character becomes a hero by sacrificing his love for a woman.
In order to achieve his “American Dream” he feels as if he must please the white men at all costs. He states “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.” (Pg. 7) Even when he was thrown into a ring to be ridiculed solely because of his skin color despite all of the sacrifices he faced catering to these upper class white men, he still wants them and only them to respect him. Even though the narrator does not win the Battle Royal, he is awarded with a college scholarship to the “negroes” college due to his speech when he receives his scholarship he states “I was so moved that I could hardly express my thanks. A rope of bloody saliva forming a shape like an undiscovered continent drooled upon the leather and I wiped it quickly away. I felt an importance that I had never dreamed.” Despite him being made a fool of, he still sees these men as saviors because of this. The narrator does not realize that these white men will never truly recognize his efforts, due to the fact that they feel superior to him. African Americans were essentially blocked from receiving good paying jobs, and favorable housing until late into the 20th century. Many African Americans were shut out from the American Dream. There has been riots, protests and sit-ins in the attempt to create equal opportunities for all. Times have changed and it is now more than ever true that with hard work, education and a drive for success anyone in America can achieve a decent
The violence that continues to endanger all members of the Black community has become commonplace. In one of the opening chapters of the novel, the narrator
This leads into the narrator having to fight blindfolded in the Battle Royal. The black kids who are fighting are forced to look at this naked white woman by the white males who attend this gathering. The narrator states, “"We of the younger generation extol the wisdom of that great leader and educator," I shouted, "who first spoke these flaming words of wisdom, 'A ship lost… Social Responsibility”(Ellison 29-30). The young narrator is giving a speech in front of this crowd similar to one Booker T. Washington gave. He is very nervous about how the crowd is reacting to this. It leads to a lot of humility and resistance because he is delivering this speech in front of a white crowd and is discussing the topic of