Battle Royal
The narrator in the" Battle Royal", Ralph Ellison is confused and disillusioned. He is a black man trapped in a world of cruelty and social inequality with nobody to guide him. He is being ripped apart in two directions by the advice of his grandfather and by the wishes of white society, which he longs to please. While attempting to satisfy their wishes, he loses two important things his identity and his own dignity.One can see how his grandfather's words can be confusing to a young boy: "Son, after I'm gone I want you to keep up the good fight. I never told you, but our life is at war and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy's country ever since I give up my gun back in the reconstruction. Live with your head in the lion's mouth. I want you to overcome'em with yeses, undermine'em with grins,agree'em to death and destruction, let'em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open" (Ellison 449)."His grandfather's words confront him with the enigma of the contradiction between appearance and reality, mask and ide
The narrator was never taught the meaning of his grandfather's words. This is exactly what Busby is stating that we need to put on a mask when we are with the whites. In trying to impress the high standing white members of his community, he allowed them to take advantage of his ambition. The battle Royal is a perfect example of what Finholt is expressing. Of course, things do not go exactly as he had planned. Keep this Nigger boy running"(Ellison 528) did he truly understand what his grandfather meant. He is driven by the desire to please the whites, and therefore advances his own standing among them. For example occurs when the boys are presented with a white exotic-dancer. They continued to beat on one another while the echoes of the white man's taunts and threats were all they could hear. He measures his accomplishments by what the white man thinks of him. The dancer was something they could see but never be allowed to touch.
Common topics in this essay:
Son I'm,
Ralph Ellison,
grandfather meant,
grandfather's words,
battle royal,
,
advice grandfather,
meaning grandfather's,
ellison 449,
invisible strings,
appearance reality,
|
Acceptance Essays
