Battle Royal

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World of Challenges In the world of segregation crises “Battle Royal” by Ralph Ellison is about a boy who just finished high school years and receives an invitation to present his valedictorian speech to the wealthy white men in town. Ellison’s protagonist reminisces about his naive life, 20 years before when the story was published in 1947. He grew up in the deep south of America in a town where prejudicism and racism was prominent. During this time the South is segregated because of the Jim Crow Law. The story shows the conflict between the races of black society and white society back in the early 1900s when segregation laws was in place. As I was reading the story I can see clearly that the battle the African-Americans are fighting for,…show more content…
In this fight the black boys are blindfolded to add excitements to white man’s entertainment. It is a brutal match because they have to fight each other, and if they don’t follow the instruction of the rich white man in the room, they will be punish. This shows the power the white people have over the black race. Also, the narrator must participate in this event before he can deliver his speech, and he was taken aback by, “... some of the most important men of the town quiet tipsy ... they were all there-bankers, lawyers, judges, doctors, fire chiefs, teachers, merchants. Even one of the most fashionable pastors’” (Ellison 182). This war that the protagonist is part of is a battle that is barbaric which will keep him in touch with the reality of his world because in this fight the rules that keeps everything in order will not be present, there are “no rounds [and] no bells at the three-minute intervals” (Ellison 185). When the fight began the boy felt, “[b]lows pounded [him] from all sides while [he] struck out as best as [he] could. So many blows landed upon [him] that [he] wondered if [he] were not the only blindfolded fighter in the ring” (Ellison 184). This setting…show more content…
This demonstrate how the African-Americans were living back in the slave and segregated era where they did not have any rights, and no matter what their status in society. As Sheokand writes, “Ellison’s smoker episode clearly points towards the social status of blacks in the society. Each ordeal is designed for their mockery, yet the invisible man hardly recognizes the disparity between his expectations and the actual situation” (4). This demonstrate how he is being viewed, always be the black man who does not have rights as far as the white people were concerned. The boy had to continue living and to live his life to the fullest instead of conforming to what society thinks a black man should do. Interestingly, the protagonist states, “[f]irst I had to attend college” (Ellison 191) to figured out the meaning of his grandfather’s advice. He seems to be saying that perhaps he not only needs more education, but more life experience. Instead the narrator leave his hometown and its strict regulations. By attending college education he will gain more knowledge and he will be more useful in helping his race fight against racism. In the world of segregated races, the protagonist will definitely have to further his education and gain more experiences before he can help his fellow
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