Identity In Ralph Ellison's Battle Royal

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Ellison’s story Battle Royal takes place in the South during the early twentieth century and is written in the first person point of view and narrated by a young African American boy struggling to find his place within society. Through the use of humility and humiliation he is eventually able to come to the realization that he can be nobody but himself and he should stop trying to be somebody else. The Theme of Ellison’s Battle Royal is that nobody can tell you what your identity should be, that only you can figure out who and what you should be and that nobody else can make that decision for you. The narrator is troubled when he overhears his grandfather on his death bed tell his father that he wants him to keep up the good fight and…show more content…
It is here that they are further humiliated in front of the group when a naked blond begins to dance in front of them causing the white men to begin to threaten the group of boys; some were threats to not look at the girl and some were threats that they have to look at the girl. This causes further confusion for the narrator as well as the other group of boys because not only are the threatened and humiliated publicly they are also placed into a situation in which they have no chance of winning. While the girl was dancing around the boys naked one of the boys actually becomes so humiliated that he faints and another boy begins to cry and plead that he wants to go home. This makes an impression on the narrator because he is still confused on what he should actually do in his current situation. After the spectacle in front of them leaves the boys are led to a ring and told that they would be blindfolded and have to fight each other this is the point that the battle royal is about to begin. The boys to include the narrator are further humiliated as they begin to wildly swinging trying to hit whoever was closest to them. It turns into total anarchy as everyone begins to fight everyone else. The harder the boys fight the more threatening the white men become.…show more content…
He opens the briefcase and finds an envelope. His grandfather tells him to open that envelope and in doing so he finds that all it contains is another envelope. This continues for a little and while it is occurring his grandfather informs him that the envelopes are significant of years lost. Once he finally gets to the last envelope which simply states “To Whom It May Concern, Keep this Nigger-boy running”. This is when he realizes “All my life I had been looking for something and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was.” He also realizes how much he has been “Looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions, which I and only I could answer.” He goes on to state that it “Took a long time and much painful boomeranging of expectations to achieve the realization: I am nobody but myself.” This is the point when he realizes his true place in society and that he must only be himself and not what others want him to
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