Ralph Ellison Battle Royal Analysis

The short story “Battle Royal” written by Ralph Ellison is a symbolic story showing how a man must fight societies views to get the public to truly see who he is. The dominant tone of the story is candid or honesty, and the tone is created through the language elements of symbolism, literal imagery, and dialogue. The story’s tone is also supported by the fiction elements of character and point of view.

In the short story the narrator lives constantly remembering his grandfather and what he had said to him in his last few days before he passed away. His grandfather had told him to continue the fight that African American men and women were in at the time. The narrator is asked to deliver a high school graduation speech by white leaders. Once

he gets to the location he is forced into a boxing arena with some of his classmates to be the entertainment for these white men. The narrator fights all but one of the men in the arena with him, they fight and the narrator loses. He then gives his speech to the white men after the battle. Through the entire story the narrator is inspired by what his grandfather had said to him.
The story has an honest tone due to the language elements and how they make the story seem as if the reader is being told a story.

Symbolism is the primary language element that forms the tone. The author uses contextual symbols to tie together the wishes of the narrator’s grandpa or the furthering of black society and the literal fight that the narrator encounters. The fight represents the constant fight that African Americans face in society. In the beginning of the story the narrator shares that he does not want society to see him as a threat when he has done nothing to disserve that title. While both literal and figurative images are used constantly through the story, only literal imagery forms the tone of the story. “it smelled even more like tobacco and whiskey. Then we were pushed into place. I almost wet my pants. A sea of faces, some hostile, some amused, ringed around us, and in the center, facing us, stood a magnificent blonde” (155). The way the author lists the senses he experiences around him shows the reader that they can trust the narrator and that he is a truthful and straightforward person as it is conveyed in the tone. The use of dialogue helps create the tone, it is primarily used to inform the reader of what the narrator is thinking since the majority of the dialogue is past quotes from his grandfather. “’Son, after I’m gone I want you to keep up the good fight.’” (152). The previous quote shows an example of the dialogue that is a quote from the

narrator’s grandfather. This dialogue creates the tone by showing the reader what he is thinking through the story.
Fiction elements including, but not limited to, character and point of view also enforce the tone of honesty through out the story. The main character who is also the narrator is an important part of forming the tone of the story because he is very committed to his ideas and values. His grandfather tells him to fight for himself and his race which is a value that his grandfather has held since he was a slave over 85 years before he tells the narrator to continue the fight. The narrator holds these views for his entire life and makes every choice in his life based on them. The reader can easily see how determined the narrator is and that these values he holds make him a truthful person thus creating the tone. This story is told from the point of view of the main character which gives the reader some view into his life that wouldn’t have been accessible if another character or an outside view was given to tell the story. If the story was told from a different point of view the reader would most likely not have seen the event of the main character’s grandfather’s death that gave him the morals he holds through the story which also show that the narrator is honest and candid.
The story shows how black men and women are constantly fighting for their rights and the be truly seen as themselves. In the story the white men watching the battle represent how white people then and even today do not take their fight seriously and watch it as if it were entertainment. Like the narrator in the story “Battle Royal” many people must fight their whole lives to be happy while others ignore or even laugh at their fight.