Discrimination in Battle Royal by Ralph Ellison (Essay Sample)

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Discrimination in "Battle Royal" by Ralph Ellison
Societies are primarily made up of many people, each according to their distinct concept of character, ethics, and qualities, which ultimately represents the crucially important mechanism of becoming an individual, notably excluding the community as an existing being. Since each cultural and racial foundation evolved uniquely to the cultural circle that inclines this element, society created a differential boundary around each socio-cultural community predicated on their anthropological evolution and previous interaction with the overall population (Heylighen et al., pg 1-2). The historical evolution of every social circle did have a substantial role in the current identity of that partition. These historical and cultural disparities inevitably lead to one of the most problematic ethical dilemmas in today's global society: prejudice. Prejudice is notably prominent in Ralph Ellison's short narrative text "Battle Royal." This narrative vividly illustrates the negative consequences that the notion of bigotry had on the history of Black people's lives. The narrative is around a black youngster striving to integrate into a predominantly white world, which implies that the author portrays a total societal racial prejudice as the black Americans struggle to survive the harshness of discrimination.
The Battle Royale is primarily an event in which a group of black men battles and brawls against one another to acquire dominance in their group. Symbolically, this incident is based on the comparable experiences of African Americans throughout the era of slavery. Battle Royale is a type of competition in which African Americans compete for money, fame, and social standing in their culture, with the winner remaining isolated from their race rivals.
A black high school graduate has been asked to make his graduation speech to a gathering of white males in an exclusive ballroom. When he arrives, he is conscripted to confront other black men in a boxing match. After acting as an entertainer for the white men and being roughed up, he delivers his address and eventually earns a scholarship to a state university. When he reaches the hotel in "Battle Royal," one immediately perceives the cultural variations. "When I got there, I discovered that it was on the occasion of a smoker… The town's big shots were in their tuxedos, wolfing down the buffet foods, drinking beer and whiskey, and smoking black cigars" (Ellison, pg 234). The young black man is in for a surprise as he walks in. He recognized he was making his address to white men, although he did not know it would be to the town's elite white men. These men represent that not everything we see is genuine and cannot always trust everyone. Outside the ballroom, the white men are seen as higher-ranking members of society who should not be trifled with due to their social status. Moreover, This is a strategy used by White enslavers to impede African American solidarity, restricting their ability to fight for their freedom in a single spirit. History has often demonstrated that individuals can effect tremendous change by uniting their hearts and spirits. Moreover, battle royale encourages only infighting and hostility within the African American racial group, limiting their ideal powers and reducing them from enslaved people to their opposites.
The narrator's graduation speech, which he finished first in class, was delivered. His affluent society hailed this achievement. However, the narrator's long-awaited event became his testimonial to the repressive attitudes against his ethnic identity. Irrespective of the idealistic principles depicted in the speech, the audience demonstrated disengaged and noncommittal participation during the speech. As the protagonist states, "Whenever I uttered a word of three or more syllables, a group of voices would yell for me to repeat it (" Ellison, pg 240). Furthermore, the protagonist of Ellison's chapter "The Battle Royal" criticizes and examines the ideals of a renowned black writer, Booker T. Washington. In his presentation to the powerful; white men, Washington is quoted by the storyteller. Washington's philosophies said blacks should resist rebelling and raising a commotion to acquire political and civic rights. They should be silent and strive hard to prove themselves, which could help them achieve equality. Ellison refutes this style of reasoning by recalling what occurred to his grandfather, obsessed with the same beliefs as Washington. The narrator's grandfather was always in line, and only upon his demise that he sees the shortcomings of that type of philosophy.
Ralph Ellison depicts a plethora of societal constraints in the black population that intensify prejudice in their battle for rights. However, he depicted their conflict unconventionally. The narrator rarely provided any direct battle in a metaphorical sense. The fact that the royal battle fighters are blinded is significant. At the time, the black community was going through a period where they were experiencing severe deficiencies (Studymoose, par 3). The blindfold represents the narrator's figurative blindness to the white men's aims. The money scattered over the electric carpeting and the white men's intents toward the narrator and his remarks are examples of misinterpreted intentions. The white individuals who possessed the ability to send him to college gave it an all-black college