Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

by Ralph Ellison

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Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

The dying grandfather's speech in "Battle Royal" advises fighting white people in society by smiling and going along with them. This will beat them at their own game. The narrator does this in his...

2 educator answers

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

In "Battle Royal," Chapter 1 of Invisible Man, the naked blonde lady symbolizes the unattainable American Dream for African Americans. The tattoo of stars and stripes on her belly reinforces this...

2 educator answers

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

In Ralph Ellison’s short story “Battle Royal,” the narrator describes how, before the battle itself, a naked blonde white woman danced not only before him but also before the other black boys and...

1 educator answer

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

The ending dream in "Battle Royal" reflects the narrator's earlier humiliations and the empty promises of equality. The dream's circus parallels the dehumanizing "battle royal" event, where black men...

4 educator answers

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

The narrator of the Battle Royal understands that the both he and his group of "warriors" as well as the dancing blonde woman symbolize the otherness of women and minorities during this time...

3 educator answers

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

The narrator calls himself the invisible man because white people refuse to see him as a three-dimensional person. The gap that separates the races is so wide that the narrator doesn't just feel out...

4 educator answers

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

The electrified carpet that is covered in bits of cold and coins and notes is something that the whites in this terrible extract dream up for their own amusement after the boxing match. The sight...

3 educator answers

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

The short story “Battle Royal” actually is the first chapter of Ralph Ellison’s book The Invisible Man. There are two distinct events in the story: the last words and death of Ellison’s...

2 educator answers

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

On his death bed, the grandfather explains that he has fought against whites through meekness. He says: our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy's country...

1 educator answer

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

In "Battle Royal", the narrator has been completely humiliated doing what he was taught to do--giving the whites their "yessuhs" and always being complacent and accomodating to the whites who are...

2 educator answers

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

The narrator's conflict is between the distortion of his identity and his need to cater to that distortion in order to get the things that he needs from white society. Commentary: The narrator's...

2 educator answers

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

The narrator of the story in Ellison's Invisible Man is very different from his grandfather. Where the narrator is naive and hopeful that he will be able to succeed and get ahead on the terms...

2 educator answers

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

That is an excellent question. The answer isn't really easy. Why does anyone willingly suffer abuse? There are myriad answers to this question. Perhaps, like many abused/repressed people, Invisible...

2 educator answers

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

In "Battle Royal," the first chapter of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, the major symbol is the concept of "the fight."  Early in the story, the narrator tells the audience about his...

3 educator answers

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

The American flag on the "ring girl" is symbol of irony. This country is supposed to be about "all men are created equal," yet we have a bunch of ignorant, horrible white men who are watching a...

1 educator answer

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

In chapter 20, the narrator is searching for the missing brothers (Clifton and Maceo) and discovers in a local bar just how far the Brotherhood has fallen in the eyes of the community. Next, the...

1 educator answer

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

"The Battle Royal" is the first chapter from the would-be novel Invisible Man.  Ellison first wrote it as a short story, and then added a transition ending when he included it in the novel....

1 educator answer

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

What do you think his epiphany is when he has the dream at the end of the story with his grandfather in it? The narrator dreams at the story's end about attending the circus with his grandfather who...

2 educator answers

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

The setting of Ralph Ellison's "Battle Royal" from The Invisible Man is the early 1940s somewhere in the Deep South.

4 educator answers

Battle Royal; or, The Invisible Man

The narrator's grandfather is an "invisible man" because white society cannot see him as anything other than what they want to see him as. They want him to be a good black person, but they do not...

2 educator answers