A Never-Ending Cycle In Ralph Ellison's Battle Royal
Battle Royal
Competition has always been a part of human nature. We compete to show dominance upon one another. Times were tough for African American slaves, whom were freed from slavery. In Ralph Ellison’s Short story, Battle Royal, the author uses the main character to demonstrate how difficult it is to break a never-ending cycle. The story of Battle Royal is a depiction of what many black men faced in that time. The narrator is living a 1930’s Alabama and has recently graduated from high school at the top of his class. At around 17 years old he thinks of himself as a young Booker T. Washington.
At the beginning of the story the narrator seems to be struggling with his identity. He goes along with what people tell him he should be rather than making the decision on his own. As his grandfather lies on his death bed, he admits to …show more content…
The circus is a symbol for all the hoops he had to jump through to deliver his speech. For example, “The Battle Royal” is perceived as a rite of passage that black men must endure for the entertainment of rich white men. The circus in the narrator runs parallel to the battle royal as they are both for the entertainment of the audience despite the endangering cost. As the dream progresses, the narrator opens a series of envelopes which can be interpreted as the process he is going to through to finding himself and his purpose in life. The laughter that the narrator heard was him realizing that he was following the same path as his grandfather. “I even felt safe from grandfather’s death bed curse” this only reinforces the fact that every accomplishment he has made was always in spite of his grandfather. The quote is only adding to the idea that the scholarship is nothing but a way for the white man to keep him on a predestined narrow path for him to follow. They want the narrator to be the leader of his people, while they keep control of
Competition has always been a part of human nature. We compete to show dominance upon one another. Times were tough for African American slaves, whom were freed from slavery. In Ralph Ellison’s Short story, Battle Royal, the author uses the main character to demonstrate how difficult it is to break a never-ending cycle. The story of Battle Royal is a depiction of what many black men faced in that time. The narrator is living a 1930’s Alabama and has recently graduated from high school at the top of his class. At around 17 years old he thinks of himself as a young Booker T. Washington.
At the beginning of the story the narrator seems to be struggling with his identity. He goes along with what people tell him he should be rather than making the decision on his own. As his grandfather lies on his death bed, he admits to …show more content…
The circus is a symbol for all the hoops he had to jump through to deliver his speech. For example, “The Battle Royal” is perceived as a rite of passage that black men must endure for the entertainment of rich white men. The circus in the narrator runs parallel to the battle royal as they are both for the entertainment of the audience despite the endangering cost. As the dream progresses, the narrator opens a series of envelopes which can be interpreted as the process he is going to through to finding himself and his purpose in life. The laughter that the narrator heard was him realizing that he was following the same path as his grandfather. “I even felt safe from grandfather’s death bed curse” this only reinforces the fact that every accomplishment he has made was always in spite of his grandfather. The quote is only adding to the idea that the scholarship is nothing but a way for the white man to keep him on a predestined narrow path for him to follow. They want the narrator to be the leader of his people, while they keep control of