Treachery, Respect And Dignity In Battle Royal, By Ralph Ellison

Poise
Property is a fear people have of losing. Physical property that you own isn’t always safe; it can be taken away in a matter of seconds. Less tangible possessions such as, someone’s independence, ideas, love, freedom, even respect and dignity is worth more of a scare. Dignity, worthiness, is what makes a person who they are. Respect, a person’s quality, is what gets a person to be who they are. Unfortunately, if a person is subtracted from both their dignity and respect, not always will they get it back.
In Battle Royal, the Invisible Man says, “I was considered an example of desirable conduct…just as my Grandfather…puzzled me he defined it as treachery” (Ellison). This shows the Invisible Man the admiration he thinks he is receiving.

Although his Grandfather has told him otherwise, it’s a violation of faith. He begins to feel the fear of losing the respect of his fellow white peers and he has to “act any other way because they didn’t like that” (Ellison). The Invisible Man is feeling his dignity as well dripping out of his will; this is demonstrated by him saying “fighting a battle royal might detract from the dignity of my speech” (Ellison). He worries that participating in this activity; he will lose his own self-respect. Sadly, he does, “blindfolded, I could no longer control my motions. I had no dignity” (Ellison). He realizes his dignity is no longer in his control, nor the respect he is no longer getting. He is only viewed as pleasure for entertainment. Toward the end of his story, he continues to tell his speech after the rough battle he was in and he is not receiving the respect he wanted, he is being laughed at and unheard but his statements catch his viewers’ attention. His hard work, his loss of property, paid off with a briefcase and a scholarship to an all-African American college. He gains physical property, but never gains his more meaningful possessions, his honor and recognition.
The Battle Royal was not just White and African American men, there was a lady. She was described as “the hair was yellow like that of a circus kewpie doll…face heavily powdered and rough” (Ellison). Kewpie dolls, a small little German doll is wears no clothes and is always naked, this women was described to be similar to this bare doll. She gave a forceful reaction to the men who watched her. The Invisible man who watched her had a sense of pity but lust for her. “To feel the soft thighs, to caress her and destroy her, to love her and to murder her” (Ellison). She was loved for her body but disliked for her lack of self-respect. She dance slowly for the men watching, she smiled to make them feel important but not all were impressed soon after. “Tossed her as a college boy is tossed at a hazing…I saw terror and disgust in her eyes” (Ellison). She was treated like a man, bear with no protection, hit like a ball thrown at a wall. At this moment she lost her dignity. Her impressions after that moment will never be the same.