Battle Royal Symbolism

The short story “Battle Royal,” written by Ralph Ellison, has a lot of symbolic meanings. It’s about a young African American teenager who had just graduated from High School, and his grandfather had also recently died. He was invited to give his graduation speech in front of a group of white men. He arrived and was told to participate in the battle royal that was to take place as entertainment for the audience. Before the fight started a nude dancer was put in the ring as a distraction. She was mistreated and thrown about the room violently. The boys were blindfolded and told to go at it. The young teen and one other boy were the only two left in the ring, but the other boy won. After the fight there was a rug with money on it to pay the boys
The battle royal itself has a lot of meaning when it comes to equality. It signifies the power that blacks had over whites and all of the adversity that blacks went through to gain equality throughout that time period. “Uppercut him! Kill him! Kill that big boy!” (Ellison 248). I cannot imagine how cruel the whites were being to the blacks during and after the battle royal. Sometimes it was shocking and not shocking at the same time. I believe that Ellison chose the “Battle Royal” as one of the main symbols because it clearly stated the dominance that whites had over blacks, and how little the opinion of a black person really mattered. It symbolized life as a black person growing up in the 1950’s extremely well. The second symbol I selected was the electrified coins that the black boys were awarded for taking part in the battle royal. I believe these signified the envy that blacks had to become economically prosperous and socially equal. “Ignoring the shock by laughing, as I brushed the coins off quickly, I discovered that I could contain the electricity, a contradiction, but it works” (Ellison 250). This demonstrated the kinds of things that blacks would do to feel that they were respected or that they were equal. I was a little angry to find out that the coins weren’t even real money. In my
Biracial relationships were frowned upon and blacks were often punished very harshly for it. Their punishment was often death. The nude stripper had a tattoo of an American flag on her belly. I feel this symbolizes the freedom that blacks did not enjoy and how lucky whites were to enjoy the freedoms that they do. It also symbolizes the American dream in a way that all men are created equal, and all men should enjoy the same liberties as others no matter what race or gender. This was what the blacks were eager for during this time