Nellie's Life

In a story entitled Battle Royal written by Ralph Ellison lies a history lesson of the racism that was happening during the 1950’s. There are a lot of graphic details to symbolize the continued hatred that was occurring. It is apparent throughout this story that black people want to prove that they are significant and equal to that of the whites.
The story’s focus is on a young black man fresh out of high school who is invited along with nine other black men to a give a speech at a gathering of the town’s leading white citizens. The gathering ended up being an entertainment affair for all the white men present, and the ten black men invited were the show. The Battle Royal, which is considered a violent struggle or a contest, took place and all the black men were put in the boxing ring and blindfolded. Once in the ring the black men started throwing swings at each other, and there was a lot of blood coming from them and laughter from the white men. Ralph Ellison continues using this story as a way to show the racial tension happening during the 1950’s.
From the beginning to end of Battle Royal, it is evident that black men are not considered equal or significant to that of white men in the 1950’s. The story shows the lengths the black men will go in order to be equal and significant to whites. In an article written by Liz Brent on the Battle Royal, there is a paragraph she discusses worth mentioning. She talks about what the grandfather said to the grandson right before his death. The grandfather says, “after I am gone I want you to keep up the good fight. I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy’s country ever since I give up my gun back in the Reconstruction.” Liz responds to this with, “Racial relations in the United States, even after the end of the Civil War, and the era of Reconstruction, are described by the grandfather as an ongoing ‘war’, and the struggle of the African Americans to gain equality is referred to as ‘the good fight.’” The struggle blacks face for equality is a “war.” The Battle Royal is the perfect symbolization for this whether it be through the grandfathers words, the actual battle, or words spoken by the grandson. It is obvious a black man will go to great lengths to look significant to a white man.
During the end of the ‘battle royal’ when the grandson is fighting only one other man for the championship, he says to himself, “I wanted to deliver my speech more than anything else in the world, because I felt that only these men could judge truly my ability.” I am confident that the reason he feels that only the white men could judge his true ability was because he is brainwashed by society to believe that white men are the better of the two. He believes being like a white man would get him respect, dignity, and a higher place in society. As the story shows no matter how hard he tried to be white, he is still black and will always be black. He needs to accept the fact that he is black because he cannot change his color. Instead of putting all his energy towards a hopeless battle of trying to be white, why not understand who he is and fight for his own race? It seems that even if he were to become like the white men it may not be all it is cracked up to be.
Looking through the story, my judgment would be that the white men are sickening men; they are rude, drunken beasts. The dehumanizing words they use to describe the black man were horrifying. The white men use words such as sonofabitch, Sambo, Nigger, boy, black bastard, and shrines to name a few. Once again Liz Brent’s article will help stress my point I want to make, she says, “This ‘battle royal’ symbolizes the ways in which white society forces African Americans to fight amongst themselves, defeating one another, in a scramble for the limited resources provided them by white society. Instead of banding together to protest their racial treatment by the white men, the young black men find themselves turning against each other for the prize money and then for the loose change on the rug.” This is upsetting to me for one that the white men would treat the black men in such a way. Secondly, that the black men would let the white men treat them like that. Thirdly, even after this treatment the black men still want to be as significant as these unkind white men. It is difficult for me to understand this, but when I take a look at society today I can see similarly what this was like.
The year is 2004, and although there are many improvements blacks are still struggling to want to be significant and equal to the whites. Why after so many years have blacks not become equal, even though most understand the dehumanizing effects of not being equal can have? I can see racism happening all the time, and if you don’t look hard enough you may miss it. Today society has a sneaky strategy of hiding the fact that we are still a racist country after so many years. It is fascinating to me to see poor inner-city neighborhoods swarming with all or a majority of black people. This past year I spent living and working in the inner-city of Atlanta, Georgia. My roommates and I were the only white people in the neighborhood. Is there something wrong with this? Why are a majority of the black people squeezed into inner-city neighborhoods? Why do a majority of white people live in the suburbs? There is something wrong with this, and society as a whole is trying to hide the fact that racism is still present by having a majority of the black people live in one neighborhood, so that white people do not have to be reminded of the fact that black people are not as well of as themselves.
In an article written by Marjorie Coeyman about being color blind she talks with a black operator of a restaurant and he says, “Publicists and agents do not feature black chefs, these guys toil in the kitchen unrecognized. It’s not that there are no blacks in fine dining,” he insists. “they’re there behind the scenes. But we’re invisible.” This is exactly right, where ever black people are they are made to be invisible, which is why they work behind the scenes and why they are crowded in inner-city neighborhoods away from the suburbs so no one can see them. In the same article a black manager of a fine dining restaurant says, “I’ve gotten used to seeing surprise-even discomfort-on the faces of customers.” When he approaches a table, he sees surprise on the faces of the customers. When people ask to see the manager they are also surprised when he says, “That’s me.” I personally would love to see the look on the peoples’ faces when they find out a black man is a manager. Maybe this will show them that black people are just as capable of being successful as a white person is.
It is evident that racism was a struggle and still is a struggle. There are differences between the 1950’s and now. The main difference is racism was much more blatant in the 1950’s than it is now. Now it is just hidden, which I believe is almost worse because people try to hide the fact that it is still present, so they don’t have to deal with it. People need to come to terms with themselves and recognize the fact that right now we are not considered equal. Once people begin to recognize this problem, then and only then can we begin to try to reconstruct what has been done. Right now I see this struggle beginning to go back down hill because people do not take it as seriously as it is.
Works Cited List

Kirszner, Laurie, and Mandell, Stephen. Literature Reading, Reacting, Writing. Canada: Heinle a part of Thomson Corporation, 2004.

Brent, Liz. “Critical Essay on ‘The Invisible Man; or, Battle Royal.’” The Gale Group 11 (2001): Short Stories for Students

Johnson, Kendall. “Critical Essay on ‘The Invisible Man; or, Battle Royal’” The Gale Group. 11 (2001) Short Stories for Students