"Battle Royal" The Denial of Social Equality
"Battle Royal" by Ralph Ellison is the story of a young, African American, high school graduate who withstands humiliation to give a speech amongst the towns leading white citizens at an event called a "Battle Royal." The narrator was chosen to give the speech because he had given the speech once before at his high school graduation and it was a tremendous success. During this time period the story takes place black people were not considered equal to whites and were treated in unjust ways. Several issues in the story show the denial of social inequality. Things such as the narrator and other boys fear to look at the white woman dancing, when the narrator mentioned social inequality in his speech, and the scholarship he received to the best black college in the area. These all provide support that during this era blacks were not social equal to whites and whites had no intent for them to be.
When the narrator and others first entered......
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Approximate Word Count: 749
Approximate Pages: 3 (260 words per double-spaced page) |