Oppression Of Blacks In Battle Royal, By Ralph Ellison

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Author David Levithan once wrote, "It would be too easy to say I feel invisible. Instead. I feel painfully visible, entirely ignored." The young narrator in Ralph Ellison's "Battle Royal", is sure to understand Levithan's point. "Battle Royal" tells of a young African American teenager learning the struggles of being black in America through experiencing brutal treatment and humiliation at the amusement of drunken white men. Ellison strategically conveys the fight blacks endure to prove their equality in society through symbolism. Ellison uses symbols of invisibility, blindfold, an American flag tattoo, and the fight within itself to better understand that fight for equality. Invisibility's definition is the inability to be seen; ignored or not taken into consideration. …show more content…
In "Battle Royal" the hatred the rich men had toward the young men because of the skin color were horrifying as some yelled during the fight, "Let me at that big nigger!" and "Tear him limb from limb" (278). In "Battle Royal" Ellison also portrays how blacks were to be submissive of the white people making them believe they were lesser. Being secondary to the whites, blacks were lacking in areas: social class, education, jobs, and financial stability. The narrator clearly states how he is trying to find himself and accepting his place in a white society as "nobody" and "an invisible man" (275). Ellison's symbolic use of invisibility illustrates how African Americans felt and the battle they fought during the time it was
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