Social Responsibility In Ralph Ellison's Battle Royal

Battle Royal, is the story about an African American, on his graduation day wanted to give a speech. Unexpectedly, he ends up in a ring, blindfolded, to knock out his opponent. Surrounded by white men, an exotic blonde dancer, and whiskies. As he go into his battle, he is unprepared and evidentially he loses. As a participation, in a humiliating action, he earns a small amount of money, thrown at him on the floor. He was not any type of “negro”, he was the type the persevered with his plan in giving his speech, and in a daring act, with insistence, accomplished his discourse, which consisted in “social responsibility.” Subsequently he receives a scholarship to the Negros University (Elliot). Even though it has a happy ending, this story goes beyond a simple heroic act of social responsibility speech, not refraining on his ideas, and …show more content…
We still see young men, blindfolded by society, being killed by unprepared police officers. We still can tell, in a secretly manner, how some still have the segregate mentality. Discrimination is a real deal, and is still present in the society. In our present days, an activist movement “Black Lives Matters,” was created, after so many cases of injustice made towards the African American (Wellington). “Black Lives Matter” is a movement against racial intolerance. Having for the first time a black President commanding this country, there was a hope to end xenophobia, but unfortunately it is undoubtedly noticeable that, in a sense, racism and discrimination is still an issue. This problem still haunts our society. The overall society needs to exorcise this old ghost from the past and start fresh, with an awareness that we are all equally the same, independently of race or color. I believe that the “social responsibility,” starts within each individual. People needs to stand up against any type of racial discrimination, and make the world a better