Racial Inequality In Battle Royal, By Ralph Ellison

Though one has obtain freedom does not mean one has gained complete equality. The civil war ended slavery however, it did not end racial discrimination because blacks and whites were still segregated. The story “Battle Royal”, by Ralph Ellison is about a young black man who has to overcome racial inequalities. The narrator became anxious after the words his grandfather said on his death bed. He spoke bitterly to the narrator’s father, comparing the lives of black Americans to warfare and noting that he himself felt like a traitor. Instead of ware fare and hatred, kill the white men with kindness and love. Throughout the novel, the narrator finds himself passing through a series of communities with each microcosm endorsing a different idea of how blacks should behave in society. Battle Royal speaks of many important issues African American had to face such as Individuality, Morals and Self-worth.
All my life I had been looking for something and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself. But first I had to discover that I am an invisible man! (Ellison 361)
There were multiple occasions where the narrator calls himself invisible. The translation for it is the world is filled with blind people who cannot or will not see his real nature because of the color of his skin. This quote relates to many people today because of the cruel world...

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...llison 371). This is basically symbolizing the American Dream for African Americans. It is traced back to the slavery times which his grandfather had to once go through. But unlike slaves, often forced to run for their lives, the narrator starts running and is kept running by others who seem to have no real impact on his life. The whole time throughout the story he never truly finds ‘himself’.
There was a great deal of symbolism and irony throughout Battle Royal. He went through many trials to get to where he was to where he is at the end of the story. The narrator begins a pattern of doing what others expect of him, without considering his motives, establishing his own value system, or viewing the possible consequences of his actions. His propensity to act without thinking and to accept others' judgments without question keeps him from discovering his true self.