Ralph Ellison, “Battle Royal”
I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who
haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywoodmovie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone,
fiber and liquids—and I might even be said to possess a mind. I
am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see
me.
- from the Prologue to Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison (1913-1994)
• Born in Oklahoma City
• Middle name is Waldo; his
parents named him after
Emerson, hoping he’d grow
up to be a poet
• Father worked in
construction and as a vendor
of ice and coal. He died
when Ralph was 3; after this
his mother supported herself
and her children by working
as a domestic servant.
Ralph Ellison (1913-1994)
• With the help of a music
scholarship, studied at the
Tuskegee Institute from
1933-1936.
– The Booker T. Washington
connection
• Dropped out and moved to
New York to study sculpture,
but his plans soon changed
again
– Langston Hughes, Richard
Wright, and the Federal
Writer’s Project
• Became an editor of The
Negro Quarterly
• WWII 1943-1945, Merchant
Marines
“Battle Royal”
• Taken from the first
chapter of Invisible
Man
• IM published in 1952
• National Book Award
in 1953.
• As you read the story,
think of the
intersecting issues of
race, class, and
gender.
Conflicted Identity
• Ambiguity of Grandfather’s message (pg 1)
• Speaker’s confusion (bottom of pg 1, bottom of
pg 5)
• Intra-racial tension
– In the elevator with the other fighters (middle of pg 2)
– pg 6, showdown with Tatlock
• The dancer (pg 3)
– American flag
– Speaker identifies with her (middle of 3, top of 4)
• The electrified rug (bottom of 7)
• His speech (pgs 8-9)
The Narrator’s Speech
• Comes from a speech given by Booker T.
Washington at the 1895 Atlanta Exposition
• Also known as:
– The Atlanta Compromise Speech
– The “Cast Your Bucket” speech
• Urged blacks to learn manual labor and
soothed the white community’s fears of
black rebellion
– Assimilation, cooperation
Debate Within the Black Community
Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. DuBois
• Booker T. Washington
• W.E.B. DuBois
– Assimilation
– Criticized Washington
for what he viewed as
– Manual Labor
giving in and submitting
– Blacks must learn to live
to the white culture
within the racist order of
– Blacks must resist the
the South
racist order of the
South
Which side do you think Ellison supports in “Battle
Royal”? How do you know this?
“Battle Royal” paragraph
• For the remainder of the period, you are to write
a paragraph in response to the following prompt:
– How does Ellison address the issue of black identity
in “Battle Royal”?
• The first sentence of your response should be
argumentative and should serve as the thesis of
your paragraph.
• The body of your paragraph should contain
concrete details (quotations, facts, etc…) that
prove your thesis.
• The summation sentence should sum up and
shed new light on your argument.
Thesis Statements/Topic Sentences
• Good: In Ellison’s “Battle Royal,” an
ambitious young black man undergoes a
series of grotesque treatments by white men,
showing the feebleness and disorder of black
identity in the early 1900s.
• Better: In “Battle Royal,” Ralph Ellison shows
the feebleness and disorder of black identity
in the early 1900s through the subjection of
his young black narrator to a series of
grotesque treatments by white men.
Sample Paragraph Template
• An argumentative and analytical thesis
statement.
• Concrete detail.
• Analysis.
• Concrete detail.
• Analysis.
• Concrete detail.
• Analysis.
• Summation sentence.
black = concrete detail; red = analysis
In “Battle Royal,” Ralph Ellison shows the
feebleness and disorder of black identity in
the early 1900s through the subjection of his
young black narrator to a series of grotesque
treatments by white men. The narrator is
unnamed, suggesting the way that white
people viewed African-Americans as
invisible, irrelevant, and unimportant. The
narrator is blindfolded and forced to compete
in a vicious Battle Royal boxing match. The
blindfold represents how race relations were
a blinded fight with no coordination or
apparent sense of direction.
• As you read the story, consider the ways in which it
dramatizes the forces, both external and internal, which work
against collective action by black men. How do the white men
in the story actively work to discourage collective action by the
black men? How do the black men themselves reinforce this
effort? How does the speaker's dedication to educating
himself relate to this issue?
• And what about black women? The story seems to have no
interest in representing female experience. How does this
absence inflect your understanding of the story? What
function does the white woman who appears at the fight
serve? What might she symbolize to the speaker and to the
story as a whole?
• Consider also the generation gaps in the story. It begins with
an anecdote about the speaker's grandfather which
emphasizes the distance between their respective
generations. How does the rest of the story explore this
issue?
• 2. What do you think the speaker's grandfather means
when he says, "I have been a traitor all my born days"
(185)? Why do these words cause so much disruption in
the life of the speaker and his parents? Provide at least
three quotations to illustrate your discussion.
• 3. Consider the blonde woman who dances at the event.
Why do you think Ellison included her in the story -- how
does she fit in to the story's thematic concerns? Does
the speaker seem to sympathize with her? Why or why
not? Do they have anything in common? Provide at least
three quotations to illustrate your discussion.
• 4. What do you think is the significance of the speaker's
dream (195-6)? How does it relate to the rest of the
story? Provide at least three quotations to illustrate your
discussion.