Battle Royal

Battle Royal

The native Africans’ heritage and way of life were forever altered by the white slave drivers who took them into captivity in the 18th century. Along with their freedom, slaves were also robbed of their culture and consequently their identities. They became property instead of people, leaving them at the hands of merciless slave owners. Their quest to reclaim their stolen identities was a long and difficult struggle, especially in the years following the Civil War and the subsequent release of their people from bondage. In Ralph Ellison’s 1948 short story “Battle Royal,” he uses the point of view of a young black man living in the south to convey the theme of racial identity crisis that faced African Americans in the United States during the early to mid 20th century.

Ellison begins “Battle Royal” with a brief introduction to the story’s theme with a passage from the Invisible Man’s thoughts: “All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was . . . I was looking for myself and asking everyone questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: that I am nobody but myself. But first I had to discover that I am an invisible man!” (Ellison, 556). In this passage, Ellison reveals the identity crisis faced by not only the Invisible Man, but by the entire African American race as well. He builds on this theme as he follows the I.M. through his life experiences.

The actual plot begins with a flashback, a flashback to the I.M.’s adolescence. He is at his grandfather’s deathbed when he utters his last words, a revelation that will haunt him the rest of his life. Other members of his family think the man is delirious and warn the children witnessing it to forget what they have heard. I.M. describes his grandfather as “an odd old guy, my grandfather, and I am told I take after him” (556). Being the grandchild that was most like him, he clearly understood the old man’s message and could never escape from its hold on him. Ellison’s use of I.M.’s point of view sets the stage for the rest of the story. Seen from an outside witness or even from another member of the family, this scene could be quite different. Only I.M. seems to take the message to heart and use it wisely. From this point on, I.M.’s point of view is crucial to the development of the story’s theme.

As a so-called “ginger-colored” African American, as well as being intelligent and well spoken, I.M. gives another interesting point of view. Not accepted by whites, he is also somewhat of an outsider to his own race. He even mentions that “I felt superior to them [other black boys] in my way” (557). Clearly, this situation alone would give rise to identity issues and questions regarding where and with whom he belongs. Once inside the ring for the battle royal, he is bombarded by insults and flying fists. Another cruel gesture is added when the other boys purposefully leave him and the biggest of the group, Tatlock, in the ring. It was customary for the last two left to duke it out for the prize, and I.M. is no match for Tatlock. In a ballroom full of white men and with his own kind turned against him, I.M. must feel completely isolated, adding to his invisibility.

Continuing with the idea of social isolation, Ellison graphically describes the hostile relationship between blacks and whites during the early 20th century with the hotel ballroom scene. I.M. gives a superb graduation speech and is invited by the white school’s superintendent to share it at a “gathering” of the town’s most prominent white citizens. However, before he can give his speech, he finds out he has to participate in the humiliating battle royal. In essence, he is tricked by the superintendent and must serve as the entertainment for the night before giving his speech. From his point of view Ellison gives the reader some insight as to what it would have felt like to be a young black man in a sea of racist drunken white men yelling slurs