– Symbolism Essay, Research Paper
Ralph
Ellison’s short story, "Battle Royal", is symbolic in many different
ways.In one way
it is symbolic of the African Americans’ struggle for equality throughout our
nation’s history. The various hardships that the narrator must endure, in his
quest to deliver his speech, are representative of the many hardships that the
blacks went through in their fight for equality. The
narrator in Ellison’s short story suffers much. He is considered to be one of
the brighter youths in his black community. The young man is given the
opportunity to give a speech to some of the more prestigious white individuals.
The harsh treatment that he is dealt in order to perform his task is quite
symbolic. It represents the many hardships that the African American people
endured while they fought to be treated equally in the United States. He
expects to give his speech in a positive and normal environment. What faces him
is something that he never would have imagined. The harsh conditions that the boys
competing in the battle royal must face are phenomenal. At first the boys are
ushered into a room where a nude woman is dancing. The white men yell at the
boys for looking and not looking at the woman. It is as if they are showing
them all of the good things being white can bring, and then saying that they
aren’t good enough for it since they were black. Next the boys must compete in
the battle royal. Blindly the boys savagely beat one another. This is symbolic
of the African Americans’ fight for equality. It represents the struggle they
endured, to be accepted as equals with our society’s white population, upon the
abolition of slavery. Blindly, our nation’s black population fought, not always
knowing what for, just as the boys in this story fought. The segregation of
schools, restaurants, and other public facilities were issues that were
fiercely fought over.These
battles are directly represented by the barbarous fighting by 10 boys in a
ring, being witnessed by whites in high social standing. Totally engrossed by
the fighting these men yelled cruel things and became frenzied. This is
representative of the how our nation’s white population treated African
Americans for many years. Often they took a stance of authority, feeling
superior to the black minorities. This belief is portrayed by the men’s angered
actions toward the boys. The
electrified rug is another important piece in this story. The boys are given
the opportunity to take bills and coins off of a rug, after the battle royal
has been completed. As they grab for the money they receive jolts of
electricity from the rug. The boys find it extremely hard not to reach for the
money even though they will go through much pain in doing so. These activities
again represent the African American’s struggle for equality. Even though
segregation became an eventual realization the blacks had to suffer much.
Blacks attending schools with whites still had to endure racial prejudices and
misjudgments by much of the population. The boys in "Battle Royal"
were given the opportunity to get money, but they had to endure the physical
pain of being electrocuted in the process. The white men again are amused by
these activities just as men throughout the years were amused by the activities
of African American’s. The blacks were given things but with a price attached
to it just as the boys were. The dream
that the narrator has at the end of the story is very important as well. He
describes his grandfather as having him open envelope after envelope, finally
reaching one that held a document. On it was written "To Whom It May
Concern, Keep this Nigger-Boy Running." This represents many of the
hardships that the African American people had to deal with over the years.
Even though the narrator was given a degree of respect by giving his speech it
was not nearly enough. The whites gave him his briefcase and congratulated him
and that was it. The dream shows that they were just casting the narrator off,
not really giving him anything valid at all. They said "Nice job,"
but this really isn’t much at all. The white men still felt and air of
superiority, sending the narrator off to busy himself with tasks that they felt
were relevant. He felt good about all of this at the time, but he will just be
living the life that the whites envision he should have. This represents what
happened in out nation’s history as well. The whites tried to appease our
nation’s black population by giving them certain rights but never really
letting them be truly equal. Ralph
Ellison’s short story, "Battle Royal" is very significant. It is
representative of the many struggles and hardships that our nation’s African
American population endured throughout history.?