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Idealism to Realism: The Journey Through Conformity


In Battle Royal by Ralph Ellison, there are two major themes that are serious issues in today’s society, conformity, which people’s beliefs and or behaviors being influenced by others and realization, which is coming to understand of something and or making or giving the appearance of reality. A plethora of people today are conforming to attempt appeasing the people who look at them as inferior and are not realizing who they are in fact becoming. In this story the narrator, makes a huge transformation as he moves from being idealistic, the tendency to envision things in perfect, but in an unrealistic way, to being realistic and seeing things as they really are. The narrator begins to open his eyes and see the world he is living in as it is. The narrator is noticing that the once crystal clear picture he painted to surround himself in is becoming a little foggy when he realizes how the white people are treating him and his fellow African American friends. He is a victim of prejudice, which is still a major problem today. Prejudice is a tricky word to throw around because some people look at it racism, but the most basic definition as found on Wikipedia is, “the process of pre-judging a particular person, place or thing for the way it acts, looks, or even who or what it is involved with” (Wikipedia.com). Prejudice is something that is a major issue today and it is becoming dangerously close to being considered racism. Battle Royal is a prime example of imagery used to portray prejudice and how it affects people to conform to what people think is the correct standard.
In the beginning of the short story, the grandfather is on his death bed and says something to the young boy that would hang over his head for the rest of his life. He says,
Son, after I’m 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...