Battle Royal Ralph Ellison

The narrator of this story is an African American boy, who has recently graduated from high school. Throughout the story, he constantly thinks about his grandfather’s final words. On his deathbed, the narrator’s usually meek grandfather said that he was a “traitor”. He said that they too should stay in there place in public but quietly fight as well. The narrator follows in his grandfather’s advice and is very well liked by the white community. In fact, because of a speech he gave at his graduation he was invited to give it again at a event many wealthy men would attend. When he arrived he was made to participate in a very violent and degrading boxing match between several other black teens. After the match, the boys were told to fight for …show more content…
While reading it there were many times when I was literally sick to my stomach because of the way the boys were treated at the battle royal. The whole scene seemed very degrading and awful, not only for the boys but for the girl who had to dance in the beginning as well. The worst part of the event was when they had to grab the money off of the rug. This made me feel very sorry for the narrator but at the same time he made me angry because while he was being treated so poorly, all he could think about was how the men would receive his speech.

Ralph Ellison did a very effective job describing the scene of the battle royal. It was not difficult to visualize everything that occurred. The description of the punches that hit the narrator as well as the effect they had on him made me feel like if received the blow as well. While the blindfold was on the description also made me be able to visualize all the boys stumbling around fighting. The most vivid, and also disturbing, description was when the narrator was trying to grab the coins and money from the rug. The descriptions of everything in this story is what made it such a powerful