King of the Bingo Game

by Ralph Ellison

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Style and Technique

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“King of the Bingo Game” is written in a naturalistic style and from a third-person, limited point of view. The first technique reinforces the gritty, realistic quality of the story, and the second puts the reader in the place of the protagonist and helps the reader to experience the confusion that he feels.

A naturalistic style dictates that a writer describe the physical reality of a scene, such as the first detail noted in the story, the smell of the peanuts that makes the protagonist hungry. Throughout the story, physical details predominate—the feeling of whiskey moving through the protagonist’s body, the blinding lights, the odor of the announcer’s hair oil, all compel the reader to see, feel, and even smell what the protagonist is experiencing.

The third-person, limited point of view conveys information about the story as it is seen by only one person, but allows Ellison to use language that that character himself would not use, unlike the first-person point of view, in which the vocabulary of the story must be that of the main character. The use of this technique means that the reader experiences the same feelings of bewilderment and excitement that the protagonist does, but they are presented in language more vivid than he himself might use. Because the protagonist does not feel himself to be a part of the world that he inhabits, the movie house, its patrons, and the procedure of the bingo game are a welter of disconnected fragments that puzzle and finally overwhelm him—and the reader.

Two dream, or hallucination, sequences further frighten and confuse the protagonist. In one, he imagines himself back in the South, jumping from a railroad trestle as a train is about to run him down and scrambling down an embankment to apparent safety; instead the train leaves the tracks and follows him down a street as white people laugh at him. The other sequence, a hallucination, occurs as he stands on the stage pressing the button controlling the bingo wheel. This time he imagines himself pursued by a subway train while he carries his wife in his arms. If he stops, they will be run over by the train; if he jumps to the other tracks, he will be electrocuted by the rail that powers the train. This dream reflects his plan of continuing to press the button that activates the wheel; so long as he keeps doing what he is doing, he reasons, he will be all right. These sequences tell the reader more about the protagonist’s psychological state, but even though they differ greatly from the rest of the story, they are reasonable even in naturalistic terms. The protagonist has not eaten all day, so it is possible that he might fall asleep and dream; after he wakes he drinks straight whiskey, which, coupled with an empty stomach and the disorientation of being on the stage, might well induce a hallucination.

Historical Context

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Race in the South

Ralph Ellison was born in Oklahoma City, where he faced resistance from the city's white power structure during his upbringing. His mother faced persecution due to her political activities supporting the Socialist Party. During Ellison's early years, Oklahoma's governor was the white supremacist "Alfalfa Bill" Murray. Murray fostered a hostile environment for blacks in Oklahoma, which experienced at least one significant race riot during that time. Although Oklahoma is not traditionally considered part of the South and was still Indian territory during the Civil War, it has adopted a Southern cultural heritage from its neighboring states, Texas and Arkansas. This heritage included Jim Crow laws,...

(This entire section contains 613 words.)

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a system of both official and unofficial racial segregation that lasted until the 1960s.

Ellison believed the state made efforts to prevent black students from attending Oklahoma state universities by offering scholarships for out-of-state studies to promising students. He accepted such an offer and attended the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, the nation's most prestigious black school. While traveling by freight train to Alabama, Ellison was forced off the train in Decatur, Alabama—the same town where the Scottsboro Boys were being tried for the alleged rape of two white women on a freight train. Fearing for his safety, Ellison fled and managed to escape.

The harsh conditions in the South led millions of blacks to relocate to Northern cities between 1910 and 1950, in what is known as the "Great Migration." This migration was opposed by the white power structure in agricultural states like Mississippi and Alabama, which relied on black sharecroppers' labor. Despite attempts to prevent their departure, cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and New York absorbed hundreds of thousands of these immigrants. Although they faced poor treatment in the North as well, these migrants formed a labor force that helped turn Northern cities into industrial powerhouses. Ellison's character, the Bingo King, is one such Southern immigrant.

Race in New York City

In 1936, Ellison moved to New York City, thus avoiding much of the severe racial oppression that gripped the South in the 1940s and 1950s. Ellison's initial neighborhood, Harlem, had become a refuge by the 1920s for blacks migrating from Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia. However, despite the absence of Jim Crow laws in the North, it was far from a land of equality. Blacks in the North faced limited educational and economic opportunities and were often "the last hired and the first fired" in most jobs. For many poor blacks escaping the South, Harlem was a harsh reality check. They anticipated a warm welcome in a proudly black neighborhood but were instead met with crime, poverty, and the typical New York disdain for newcomers and rural folks.

Despite the challenges of life in Harlem, it was seen as an improvement over life in the South. This belief attracted many leaders of African-American culture to the city. In the 1920s, Harlem experienced a cultural peak known as the Harlem Renaissance. Prominent figures such as writers Langston Hughes (one of Ellison's first friends in New York) and Zora Neale Hurston, along with musicians like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, among others, made Harlem and New York a sanctuary for African-American culture.

Though New York could be tough and intimidating, Ellison spent most of his life there and taught at New York University for a decade. He became a central figure in the city's intellectual and cultural scene, forming lasting friendships with many of its key writers. New York City features prominently in his novel Invisible Man. The novel concludes with the protagonist residing in Harlem, reflecting the decision of many artists and writers to move to this cultural hub during the Harlem Renaissance.

Literary Style

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Narration and Point of View

"King of the Bingo Game" employs a third-person narrator who delves into the mind of the Bingo King. This narrator conveys the Bingo King's thoughts and memories. Initially, the narration is intensely realistic, almost naturalistic, portraying the mindset of a poor, oppressed, yet hopeful individual. The mention of his sick wife introduces a melodramatic tone to the narrative.

As the story progresses, the realism diminishes and the narration begins to mirror the Bingo King's consciousness, acting as his voice as he is overtaken by the power of the bingo wheel. "This is God! This is the really truly God!" the narrator declares. ''He was reborn. For as long as he pressed the button he was The-man-who-pressed-the-button-who-held-the-prize-who-was-the-King-of-Bingo." However, by the end of the story, the narrative voice withdraws, and as the authorities separate the Bingo King from the power of the wheel, the realistic narration that characterized the beginning of the story returns.

Irony

Ellison employs irony, a hallmark of modernist literature, throughout the story. For example, it is ironic that the number the Bingo King needs to win the jackpot is double zero; "zero" symbolizes what American blacks felt they received from the dominant white society. Additionally, it is ironic that the Bingo King's escape from his circumstances is achieved through playing the numbers. The hope sold by numbers runners drained significant amounts of money and hope from the impoverished individuals who bought chances. The fact that the ''jackpot'' is only $36.90 is also ironic; such a meager sum would scarcely lift the Bingo King out of poverty.

There is deeper irony in other parts of the narrative. By refusing to release the button, the Bingo King ensures an even harsher punishment for himself. As he returns to reality from the suspended state of the spinning bingo wheel, he bitterly tells the men surrounding him, "You see." "It's O.K." Yet, as one man smiles at him, another prepares to kick him in the head. Although he has defied fate and seized control of his destiny in the world of the bingo game, and although the wheel of fortune elevates the Bingo King, by the end of the story, he finds himself in an even worse position than where he started.

Symbolism

The central symbol in the story is the bingo wheel. This wheel embodies not only the unpredictable nature of Fortune or Fate but also the futility of the aspirations of the black audience members, especially when the Bingo King hits 00 and still loses. Additionally, several smaller elements in the story carry symbolic significance. The bag of peanuts consumed by the woman in front of the Bingo King symbolizes everything he longs for but cannot attain: wealth, pleasure, a better life, and the sense of community he recalls from the South. Their aroma "stabbed him like a knife." The whiskey given to the Bingo King by a man in the theater reappears symbolically when the King is on stage, and the audience chants "Shoot the liquor to him, Jim boy!" Here, whiskey or liquor represents an escape from daily life that is both enticing and perilous. While the men in the audience perceive the Bingo King as merely drunk, in his mind, he is breaking free from the constraints of everyday reality.

Compare and Contrast

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1944: Numerous Southern black Americans relocate to the North during the "Great Migration" in search of employment opportunities.

1996: According to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 915,900 immigrants legally enter the country, while numerous others enter unlawfully.

1944: In the case of Smith v. Allwright, the Supreme Court decides that an individual cannot be denied the right to vote based on race. Despite this ruling, Southern states continue to disenfranchise black voters through tactics like literacy tests and poll taxes.

1996: The Supreme Court rules that Congressional districts created specifically to ensure a racial majority are unconstitutional.

1943: Harlem experiences a race riot on August 1.

1991: A jury acquits white Los Angeles police officers of assaulting black citizen Rodney King, leading to the most severe outbreak of violence and looting in U.S. history, resulting in over fifty fatalities and extensive damage across fifty square miles of Los Angeles.

Bibliography and Further Reading

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Sources

Deutsch, Leonard J. "Ralph Ellison," in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 2. American Novelists since World War II, Gale Research, Inc, 1988.

Herman, David J. "Ellison's 'King of the Bingo Game': Finding Naturalism's Trapdoor," in English Language Notes, Vol. XXIX, no. 1, September 1991, pp. 71-73.

Hersey, John, editor. Ralph Ellison: A Collection of Critical Essays, Prentice-Hall, 1974.

Real, Willi. "King of the Bingo Game," in The Black American Short Story in the 20th Century, edited by Peter Brack, B. R. Grimer, 1977.

Further Reading

Contemporary Literary Criticism, Gale Research, Inc., Vol. 54, 1989, pp. 104-149.
A compilation of numerous critical essays analyzing Ellison's literature.

O'Meally, Robert G. The Craft of Ellison, Harvard University Press, 1980.
Explores Ellison's growth and evolution as a writer.

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