Ralph Ellison’s nameless protagonist in “Battle Royal” is a young African American struggling to find his place in society in the early twentieth century American South. Rather than provide the reader with an essay of statistics and facts about racial discrimination, Ellison chose to create a short story full of imagery and satire that allows the reader to step into the horrific experiences of the young man. More importantly, Ellison uses the key events of “Battle Royal” to satirically depict real cultural issues affecting African American society throughout history.
Early in the story, we learn that the central character is graduating from high school. He is considered an excellent speaker, and an all white men’s club invites him to present his graduation speech at their meeting. At this time the young man believes in the accommodationist philosophy for his race: “I visualized myself as a potential Booker T. Washington” (939). His speech focuses on humility and preaches that through humility progress will be made. But once he arrives at the club, he is asked to participate in the other activities of the night.
A battle royal, or group boxing match of sorts, is planned, and he is told that since he is there he should participate. He and nine others receive boxing gloves and ushered into an area where a temporary ring has been set up. They are ushered into place and surrounded by some of the most important men in the community, drinking and smoking cigars. A beautiful naked white woman stands directly in front of the ten fighters, and she begins to dance. The protagonist does not know how to react: “My teeth chattered, my skin turned to goose flesh, my knees knocked. Yet I was strongly attracted and looked in spite of myself” (939). The group of young men found themselves on stage along with the dancer. As she danced the white men antagonized the fighters. “Some threatened us if we looked and others if we did not. On my right I saw one boy faint” (940). Their position is precarious: the white men place them in a position in which they cannot win. As males they certainly should be attracted to the beautiful, sensual dancer, yet she is white and taboo, they should not look at her nakedness. The fighters do not know how they are expected to behave; therefore, they do not know their place in society.
In the post-Civil War south, the cultural view of black males’ desire for white women became exaggerated and for many years, remained at the center of Southern culture. In many cases, “protection” of the white women from black males was simply an excuse to harass and persecute many innocent black men. One highly-publicized example of this type of persecution is the Scottsboro, Alabama case dubbed “The Scottsboro Nine”. In 1931 (two years before Ellison traveled to Tuskegee, Alabama to attend college), nine African-American males were falsely accused of raping two white women. The women had lived in the black section of the segregated town and had worked as prostitutes for lack of other depression-era jobs. Based on their words alone, the Scottsboro Nine were arrested, convicted, and sentenced to hang. Luckily, the world press publicized the facts, and after many years and numerous re-trials, the prisoners were released. But many African-American men were not as fortunate in the Southern states of the U.S. Before and after the Civil War, even after Civil Rights marches and end of segregation, many lost their homes, property, even their lives, due to false accusations of pursuing white women.
After their tormenting experience with the dancer, the fight is to begin. The young men step into the ring and are blindfolded. With all ten men in the ring, the battle starts, each man for himself. They blindly lash out at each other, working alone. “It was complete anarchy. Everybody fought everybody else. No group fought together for long” (942). The structure of the fight is representative of many tactics used to suppress the African American community throughout history. By creating turmoil and fights within the community, the group is suppressed and cannot work together for a greater common good. By being blindfolded, the fighters also symbolize man’s inability to see who he is within society, or even the reality of society. The boxers continue to beat up on each other while all the white men watch and yell at them, laughing, and taunting the participants.
As the fight progresses, the narrator finds himself alone in the ring with one other fighter, their blindfolds removed. Realizing he has yet to deliver his speech, he makes an offer to the other fighter:
“Then on a sudden impulse I struck him lightly and as we clinched, I whispered, ‘Fake like I knocked you out, you can have the prize.’
‘I’ll break your behind,’ he whispered hoarsely.
‘For them?’
‘For me, sonofabitch!'” (943)
Again, we see an example of how the fighter is focused on neither who the real enemy is nor the bigger dilemma. If they work together they can possibly get out of this degrading experience and not be forced to participate. But the other fighter accepts the position in which he is placed and is only interested in his own personal gain.
After the fight is over the participants are to receive a reward. Money and gold coins are placed onto a rug and the fighters dive for it, fighting with each other once again. Instead of just letting the participants get their money, the rug is instead electrified, shocking the fighters as they attempt to gather their prize. Even as they are shocked, they continue their attempt to gather the money: “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” (944). Ironically, the coins that appear to be gold are only brass token advertisements. This portion of the story refers to numerous points in history in which African Americans have been promised the “American Dream,” but the system was not designed for their success.
One example is the period of reconstruction following the American Civil War: many promises were made to freed slaves, including the infamous “forty acres and a mule” in order to set up a homestead of their own. However, their dreams were never realized: they had little or no tools or assistance for defense in retaining their land. Many never received the reward, though intentions were good, it was only a tease. Others lost their land as southern whites reclaimed it. African American education was also sub-par in the segregationist south: separate but equal was anything but equal. Therefore even educated African Americans were not given an equal chance to succeed in America. Southern states’ “Jim Crow” laws were designed to suppress African-American growth and development. African Americans legally had the right to vote, but poll-taxes and literacy tests severely limited their participation in elections.
Following the fight, the narrator at last delivers his speech. Bruised, cut, and swallowing blood at the podium, he realizes that the men seem to ignore his words while others taunt him. Not until he utters the phrase “social equality” does he receive their undivided attention. The phrase angers the white audience, and the narrator quickly corrects his statement to “social responsibility”, claiming that his mistake is due to the fact that “I was swallowing blood” (947). A white man in the audience then replies, “We mean to do right by you, but you’ve got to know your place at all times” (947). At the conclusion of the speech, the club awards the narrator with a briefcase and a scholarship to the state’s African American college. By swallowing his blood, the narrator also swallows his dignity. While his speech’s focus is humility, the speaker is repeatedly humiliated throughout the night. The white man reinforces these concepts by stating that they are only willing to help him if he stays in his own place. They reinforce him to “stay in his place” by sending him to the African American college. These were common tactics used in the south to keep the African American community in its “place” and slow educational and financial progress in their community.
While it is always difficult to truly place yourself in someone else’s shoes, Ellison’s use of vivid imagery, satire, and first-person narration in “Battle Royal” allow the reader to experience first hand some of the struggles experienced by the African American community throughout history. While the story is fiction, the sad fact remains that the “Battle Royal” is neither fictional creation nor historical anomaly: unfortunately, such “battles” were common occurrences, especially in the deep South at the end of the nineteenth and start of the twentieth centuries.
Work Cited: Ellison, Ralph. 1953 “Battle Royal”, Making Literature Matter, Pages 939-943.
