Battle Royal Essays Examples

The novel is about the subjugation of the black race. They were treated with contempt. However, the narrator intends to escape from the “curse” of his grandfather. His grandfather had betrayed the whites. He had been a traitor and he wanted his son take up the fight. The narrator is haunted y the statements of his father who had been a man of less trouble. The narrator keeps wondering about what his grandfather meant by his last words. The grandfather had been viewed differently. He had lived in slavery and raised his son as a slave. However, he was different on his death bed. He encouraged his son to take up the fight because theirs was war. The narrator himself believes that the words of his grandfather are a curse because he had been told not to heed to the words of his grandfather.
Blacks were treated the same way despite their state in life. The narrator is grouped together with other people to participate in a fight though he was to deliver a speech. The narrator is forced to engage in a fight to entertain the whites who gathered in the hall. The other nine blacks seem not bothered by the fight. They are haunted by the words from their grandfathers like the narrator. This leads credence the grandfather’s statement that for them it was all about war. The narrator had viewed himself differently. However, the whites had viewed them all the same. He had thought that he was an important person. He was the best student from greenwood. This was not so for the whites. Blacks were regarded as slaves and they were tools of entertainment for the whites. The most important people in society were all present to see the servants fight. The narrator says “They were all there-bankers, lawyers, judges, doctors, fire chiefs, teachers, merchants” (Ellison, 3).
Interracial hatred and love is also depicted in the story. The narrator has mixed feeling for the bond lady. He wants to cover her and caress her. He has a strong attraction for the naked lady who was blond. However, he also wants to spit on her. He wants to murder her. The feelings of the narrator run from love to hate. This is story the true life experience in society. The whites had turned them into slaves yet he could still feel love for one of the whites. The narrator assumed that the lady had only seen him in the room. His description of the lady is deeming. He says that “the eyes hollow and smeared a cool blue, the color of a baboon's butt” (Ellison, 3). This indicates the mixed love and hate in the story. Despite what the whites had exposed the narrator to, he still feels love for the white lady.
Blacks are to fight for anything. Nothing comes without a fight for the blacks. The narrator and nine other blacks engage in a fight for pay. They are still mistreated after the fight. The narrator gets excited when he sees gold on the rag. However, the rag has electric shocks which hit them as they pick them. For backs, everything is about war. The world of the blacks is all about war. The words of the narrator grandfather become real. All the nine boys struggle to obtain the coins despite the dangerous electric shocks hitting them. However, backs think that the whites are doing them favor. They think that they are fighting for themselves. When narrator asks the person who he is supposed to fight the reason the fight the person replies that he is fighting for himself. The blacks are so blind to know why they are fighting.
The ill treatment of the black race is evident in the story. The blacks are hurt by the whites yet the whites seem to be enjoying the consequence of their actions. After the boxing one of the boys is thrown into the charges and the whites in the hall laugh about the incident. The narrator says “Suddenly I saw a boy lifted into the air, glistening with sweat like a circus seat, and dropped, his wet back landing flush upon the charged rug” (Ellison, 8). The narrator is bitten up as he tries to rise up against on white man. A group of whites in the room descend on him for attempting to topple the white man.
The issue of inequality and racial comes out in the story. The narrator seeks for social equality among all races. He is opposed to the discrimination that exists in society. The whites who thrive in inequality of races are opposed to his ideology. The author is awarded a gift to the “University of Negroes”. However, the narrator is happy with the prize that he has obtained.
The blacks are cheated. They thought they were fighting for gold while in the real sense they were tokens of brass pocket. The narrator is also cheated because the brief case he was carrying does not have a scholarship. It has a note telling the person who receives it to keep the “Negro boy running” (Ellison, Web). The narrator learns that his grandfather was right. He had to fight for honor and not wait to be awarded.

Works cited

Ralph Ellison Battle Royal, 2015, Retrieved on 1 March 2015, Retrieved from http://www.enotes.com/topics/battle-royal-ralph-ellison
123HelpMe.com Ralph Ellison's Battle Royal Retrieved on 01 March 2015, Retrieved from    http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=160967
Ralph Ellison Battle Royal, Retrieved on 01 March 2015, Retrieved from http://www.stjohns-chs.org/english/njones_courses/battleroyale.pdf