Contextual Symbolism In Ralph Ellison's Battle Royal

Ralph Ellison’s Battle Royal employs contextual symbolism to illuminate the socio-political realities of oppression for African Americans in the Post-Reconstruction Era. Through this allegory of what the entire novel The Invisible Man represents, Ellison’s protagonist must fight his way through a system of racism that degrades his individual worth in the name of the stigma that pushes his race down into the bloody boxing mat.

The first major symbol of oppression emerges with the death of the protagonist’s Grandfather. As a symbol of a generation, this character had been around for many major events, from the emancipation of the slaves to the democratic elections of the South to the attempted reforms of Reconstruction and the enforcement of

new Jim Crow policies. When he discussed his Grandparents, the protagonist said, “About eighty-five years ago they were told they were free, united with others of our country in everything pertaining to the common good, and, in everything social, separate like the fingers of the hand. And they believed it” (1). For our protagonist, this idea of freedom was instilled into his own values system. However, the conditions of his Grandfather were lost to Jim Crow. The Grandfather, like many of that Generation, watched as their rights were stripped. To our main character, such a fact seemed oblivious, especially as the Grandfather warns of how whites must be fought with the continued elevation of African Americans as a people who are essentially equal in terms of capability, but not social or legal status. As he warned, “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, let 'em swallow you till they vomit or bust wide open” (1). For our protagonist, these warnings were never more than the ramblings of an old man. Simply put, he had never experienced the hardships of his Grandfather. For many African Americans, this was the ignorance of an era that wanted to beleive in change. They wished to ignore the past, and the invisible chains that came with it. To the protagonist’s own good grace, that was all about to change.
While our Protagonist comes to underscore his Grandfather’s words, the second major factor that enforces his thinking is found with his arrival at the party.

The protagonist was filled to the brim with hope - the idea that he was rising through society filled his ego. As he wrote in the aftermath of his victorious speech just a few days earlier, “On my graduation day I delivered an oration in which I showed that humility was the secret, indeed, the very essence of progress. It was a great success. Everyone praised me and I was invited to give the speech at a gathering of the town's leading white citizens. It was a triumph for the whole community” (2). However, reality literally, and figuratively, slapped him down to earth. He was invited to speak before the leading whites of the town. A moment, after all his hard work, had suddenly emerged for our protagonist to showcase his talents. When he first arrived at the hotel of the party however, the circumstances had changed; he was now a contender in the Battle Royale. As disgusting as it was in his mind, he observed that, “I felt superior to them in my way, and didn't like the manner in which we were all crowded together in the servants' elevator. Nor did they like my being there. In fact, as the warmly lighted floors flashed past the elevator we had words over the fact that I, by taking part in the fight, had knocked one of their friends out of a night's work” (3),” He had worked harder that these boys. In his mind, he

foolishly believed that better treatment was due to him. For the next few moments, he was beaten in the Royale; treated like one of the fighters. He was just a ‘young nigger boy” to these racist whites. As he struggled to survive in the ring, he reflected that, “Blindfolded, I could no longer control my motions. I had no dignity” (7). To the powerful whites that were clamoring for blood, he was just another body that was struggling to breathe, coughing up blood in a battle that marked a major crack into his perception of life. His dreams of a new American dream were now gone. Like many African Americans in this era, he was begining to realise that change was note coming as fast as he had hoped for.
Finally, the strangest symbol of oppression, and a major turning point for our character, comes with his speech to the whites. It had been through bloody knockouts that his spirits had dwindled. Nevertheless, the severely injured boy was still to give his speech about the “Social Responsibility” of the African-Americans. In the midst of this, the belief that his fight in the ring had earned their attention was found to be wrong. He spoke with the pain in his chest and the blood in his mouth, “But still they talked and still they laughed, as though deaf with cotton in dirty ears” (10). His voice was still full of hope, that these foolish white men would hear him eventually. As he struggled to enunciate the phrase “Social Responsibility,” the word “equality” accidently leapt out. The audience froze. After threatening him, they reminded him that, “"Well, you had better speak more slowly so we can understand. We mean to do right by you, but
you've got to know your place at all times.

All right, now, go on with your speech” (11). He went along with the speech, intoning a theme of how the African American needed to do the same amount, if not more work, than the whites simply because they were “foreign.” In return, their treatment as non-citizens was assured. As illogical as this may all sound, it is important to remember that the protagonist had been beaten and mistreated for all his hard work. His obedience to the whites had been rewarded, but their failure to even address him by his first name (and as a boy) only furthered a disturbing reality; his pigment was all they actually saw. In this, he was only a model of the ideal boy because he obeyed them. For the protagonist, the key conclusion came with the realization that he was truly an invisible

man.
Like the African-American population at large at this moment in history, he was being forced to understand what had been truly lost in the previous generations. His Grandfather briefly tasted liberty, but such a taste melted away. Without a simple fight, his people fell into an era of great disadvantage. A boy like the Protagonist did not necessarily believe this. He thought that he would be judged for his accomplishments. The battle royale tore this notion to shreds. Even as he sought to salvage it, his rebuke from his overlords settled it all. He was a clown in their circus, and he was only now starting to see that they were laughing. For many African Americans, the same epiphany at this moment in history was also beginning to come true.