Symbols In Battle Royal, By Ralph Ellison

“Battle Royal” is a story about Ralph Ellison in another story called The Invisible Man. The story is about the narrator who is picked to give a speech to the white upper class citizens in his time. The narrator thinks that all he has to do is to give a speech and get a scholarship, but once he comes to the place he realizes that this is not it. Ellison uses many symbols to show what African Americans have to endure living in a white dominated society.
The first trial is with the white stripper. The stripper dances around a group boys while they are half naked. The stripper tries to seduce the boys as they try not to look at her. The white men surrounding the boys threaten them with violence if the group of boys should look; however some are …show more content…
The audience asks him to speak louder because the crowd cannot hear him. The crowd responds well to his speech until he mentions social equality. The white men kept asking him to repeat what he said, then the narrator realizes what he said was wrong. The narrator then mentions social equality to which the crowd agrees. The whites want black people to stay in their place. The crowd begins to think the boy is going to far, and that he is taking his speech to seriously.
The crowd begins to pump him up. They say that one day he will lead his people to greatness. They give him a scholarship saying “keep this negroidian running” (474).
In the story Ralph Ellison uses these symbols to represent the circles African Americans go though to succeed in life. These circles are in place by white men, they want to see black people humiliated before they want to help them. This gives them a sense of pride because “without” them we will not get anywhere in life. Everything the narrator suffered wasn 't any benefit to him , it was more for the white men. The men want him to keep running in life and not to get to his ultimate