Battle Royal - a Story

Literary Analysis “Battle Royal”

Shannon Cartee

Herzing University

     The story “Battle Royal” was written by Ralph Ellison circa 1952.  This was a rather interesting read as the narrator tells the story of his youth without his name ever being mentioned.  In this paper, I will be conducting a character analysis, discussing point of view, and will also talk about imagery, symbolism, and theme.   In this story the narrator reflects back to his youth and when he had not yet discovered who he was.  The story shows just how hard the narrator had to struggle to find his way.  I believe that the overall plot portrays how not only the narrator, but how all blacks had a choice to either conform to white society and obey, or fight for their rights and try to get ahead.

     The narrator’s grandfather passes away early on in the story.  As the grandfather is lying there getting ready to die, he reveals to his entire family that he has been a traitor for most of his life.  The narrator then is invited to give a speech in front of important townspeople after they hear him deliver his high school graduation speech.  Much to the narrator’s surprise when he arrives at the hotel ballroom the room is filled with smoke, drunks, a nude dancing girl, and a boxing ring.  He is then blindfolded and placed into a boxing ring with nine other black guys.  They are forced to beat each other.  At the end of the match there is a wet carpet thrown into the ring with money on top.  The contestants are told that they can have as much money as they can grab.  The contestants are shocked by electricity every time they touch the carpet much to the enjoyment of the white crowd.  Still the narrator continues on as he is driven by one goal and that is the opportunity to deliver his speech.  Once the crowd had enough entertainment, the narrator was finally allowed to give his speech.  At the end of the speech, he is presented with a briefcase.  In the briefcase is a scholarship to the State College for Negros.

     The main character in this story is the narrator himself.  The narrator is telling the story later in life, but he is reflecting back to when he was a young and ambitious black teen.  I believe the narrator was driven subconsciously by the words that his grandfather spoke on his death bed.    I think that the narrator took that as meaning he needed to obey the white folks and “kill them with kindness”.  The narrator was often praised for acting as the white folks wished, but he was not doing it intentionally because his grandfather had commanded, he was doing it because he was a very driven person.  He stated that he felt guilty and uncomfortable for carrying on his grandfather’s legacy in spite of himself.   He was fighting against the racial inequality that his grandfather had fought against whether he meant to or not.

     The majority of this story is told from the first-person point of view.  The narrator is telling a story of events that had occurred earlier in his life.  I feel that this was absolutely the best point of view for this story.  The narrator was able to express emotion in the story because it was events that he had actually lived.  The emotion of the narrator helped me as the reader get emotionally involved in the story.

     The description of the ballroom in this story created an image that was able to get in touch with several of my senses.  I could imagine myself in that polished ballroom with a bunch of high society people and the smell of smoke and whiskey in the air.  The author set the scene perfectly with the following statement:

All of the town’s big shots were there in their tuxedo’s wolfing down the buffet foods, drinking beer and whiskey and smoking black cigars.  It was a large room with a high ceiling. Chairs were arranged in neat rows around three sides of a portable boxing ring.  The fourth side was clear, revealing a gleaming space of polished floor (Schakel & Ridl, 2012 p. 404).

I immediately felt intimidated upon reading that.  The narrator then talked about beautiful naked blonde lady that danced around the ring. He talked of how he wanted to both run from her but caress her at the same time.  I felt the same confusion that he must have felt.  He then told the story of how he was beaten in the ring and I felt the pain that he felt as evidenced in the following statement:

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