Power Struggle In A Journey Southward And Battle Royal

Through Charles W. Chesnutt's "A Journey Southward" and Ralph Ellison's "Battle Royal," both authors depict a brutal power struggle that fails to unite white and black Americans. The hegemony consists of white people whose power stems from their belief in racial superiority and alignment with the norm; they use this thought process to label black people as socially inferior and subaltern. Towards the beginning of both texts, the main black protagonists appear to have an opportunity to challenge a white authority or crowd, but the hegemony coerces subaltern deference. After the white characters assert their dominance over blacks, the hegemony hide their racism by talking and joking in two different ways depending on their audience. Throughout

When Dr. Miller sits in the white car, Captain McBane assumes Miller's servitude to Dr. Burns. McBane finally asks Burns about Miller's status, and Burns passionately explains their relationship, leading to a confrontation: "The gentleman is not my servant, nor anybody's servant, but is my friend [...] What affair is it of yours?" (Chesnutt 3). Because of Dr. Burns' northern roots, his unawareness of the local laws cause his outrage and shock that people assume Dr. Miller as a "servant" instead of a "friend." As an outsider, Burns' anger stems from the normalized subordination of black people in public Southern culture. When the protagonist in "Battle Royal" receives a gift from the white hegemony, he becomes ecstatic at the idea of a free college education: "It was a scholarship to the state college for Negroes. My eyes were filled with tears" (Ellison 2404). By allowing the smartest black teenager to go to the "state college for Negroes," the white hegemony hides their true motives in sending him to a vocational school. The whites succeed by trying to conceal his intelligence and voice of opposition. With a major emphasis on black servitude, white authorities seek their ideal society where they stay in power, face no threats from the subaltern, and normalize inequality. Regardless of the subaltern's desires and merit, the hegemony judges and decides where to place black people in society all the way from seating arrangements to colleges. This approach fails the American dream because only certain people—the white hegemony—have a chance at rising to the