The Theme Of Racial Inequality In Ralph Ellison's Battle Royal

Written in 1947 by Ralph Ellison, the short story “Battle Royal, takes place during a time of racial inequality. The author portrays this struggling journey through the narrator throughout the short story. The grandfather tells the narrator to, “Live with your head in the lion’s mouth”(226) and that’s exactly what he does. In Battle Royal by Ralph Ellison the narrator, a young and unique African American boy is “always running”, maintaining an unbelievable pace even though he is constantly bombarded with racial slurs. The narrator stays mentally impenetrable and will make it to the finish line. Symbolizing more than just a constant struggle and excellent mental stability, but the evolving roles of African Americans and he is able to bring the readers along with him on his journey. Overall throughout the story the narrator is strong willed. He is capable of holding in his feelings even though he knows the difference between right and wrong. As a reader I fell like …show more content…
Thrown into the ring by the white men, “ ‘ Get going in there!’ ‘Let me get at that big nigger!’”(229). The narrator was stripped from the one of the few freedoms he had by being blindfolded. Even then the narrator fought with all he had in order to keep his presence known in the ring. Throughout this scene the narrator is constantly fighting towards why he is here in the first place, “ I wanted to deliver my speech …”(231). The battle royal symbolizes the struggle of life. Battling for something that the narrator was already born with, freedom. He then walks on to the carpet to collect his prize on an electrical carpet. Yet again the narrator must endure another struggle. While the narrator is crawling on the ground the white men are getting pure amusement out of the torture. This symbolizes the living standards of the African Americans versus white men and also an extreme view of racial