Ralph Ellison Battle Royal Analysis

1012 Words3 Pages

Gaining freedom does not mean that equality has been achieved. The civil war ended slavery but equality among African Americans and white men was still an issue. “Battle Royal” is a short story written by Ralph Ellison in 1952. The story is about a young black man who had just graduated from a high school in the south. The young man is invited to a gathering of the town’s most respected white men. At the gathering, the young man finds out that he is going to be taking part in the battle royal with nine other black men to gain the respect of the white men and is treated unfairly by the white men. This story gives great insight on how people looked at black men in the post-civil war era. The young man in the story lives his life reminiscing …show more content…

During the fights, the well-respected white men of the community were betting on which black boy would win the fights. The men were yelling things like, “Slug him, black boy! Knock his guts out!” and “Uppercut him! Kill him! Kill that big boy!” (Ellison, 407). After the fights, the white men threw crinkled bills and coins on a rug and made each black boy scramble around to get as much as they could while being electrically shocked. While being shocked, the young man tries to hold on to a chair to keep him from falling onto the electrified rug, he has to fight against a white man who wants him on the rug “Leggo, nigger! Leggo!” (Ellison, 411). Even though all of these horrible things are happening to the black boys, the young man doesn’t lose hope in the white men. He still believes that there can be equality among the two races and they can see eye to eye with each other. After the black boys get dressed and are given their money, the M.C. says, “We almost forgot an important part of the program. A most serious part, gentlemen. This boy was brought here to deliver a speech which he made at his graduation yesterday. I’m told that he is the smartest boy we’ve got out there in Greenwood. I’m told that he knows more big words than a pocket-sized dictionary” (Ellison, 411). As the young man is giving his speech, he is interrupted by …show more content…

At this point in the story the young man feels like there are already changes in the way the white men look at him because of what they gave him. While the young boy is sleeping, he has a dream about his grandfather and in his dream, his grandfather tells him to open the brief case just to find an envelope with a short message that read, “To Whom It May Concern, Keep This Nigger-Boy Running” (Ellison, 413). The young man woke up to the sound of his grandfather’s laughter running through his mind and tried to think about the meaning of the dream but couldn’t figure it

Open Document