Content Assignment
"King of the Bingo Game" by Ralph Ellison (Summary)
Quick answer:
"King of the Bingo Game" by Ralph Ellison explores the alienation and desperation of a Black man from North Carolina living in a northern city. Struggling with poverty and his wife Laura's illness, his only hope is winning a bingo game. During the game, he becomes obsessed with spinning the wheel to ensure a win, losing touch with reality. His fixation leads to chaos, ending with police intervention and his unconsciousness, symbolizing his lost hope and dreams.
Summary
Introduction
Ralph Ellison’s short story “King of the Bingo Game” first appeared in 1944 in the journal Tomorrow. It is set right around that time in an unnamed northern city, but its protagonist is a Black man from North Carolina. As such, he is alienated in his surroundings, misunderstood by those around him, and oppressed both inside and out by his thoughts and by other people’s preconceived notions.
The story’s action centers around a simple incident, a movie and the following bingo game, but its depths go far beyond its everyday movie theater setting. The protagonist must try to cope with his fears that Laura, probably his wife, will die without proper medical care, yet he has no money to pay for a doctor. His only hope is winning the bingo game, but he gets so caught up in the moment, in wanting to make...
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sure everything turns out right, that he misses his chance.
Plot Summary
As the story opens, the protagonist is sitting in the movie theater, half watching the film and half thinking about how things are so different from the South. He is hungry, but he does not dare ask the people around him for food. He has no birth certificate, so he cannot get a job. And Laura is sick, but they cannot afford a doctor. As the people around him comment on the situation of a girl in the movie, the protagonist drifts off into a dream state and ends up crying out when he feels like a train is bearing down on him. Someone gives him a drink of whiskey.
As soon as the movie ends, the bingo game begins. The protagonist is playing five cards at the same time. He has to win for Laura’s sake, and he works hard to pay attention and catch every number. Finally, he yells out “Bingo! Bingo!” and the host calls him up onto the stage to check his card. He does indeed have a bingo and therefore a chance at winning “tonight’s jackpot of $36.90” by spinning the bingo wheel and getting it to stop between the double zeros.
The protagonist quickly becomes the butt of jokes by the host and the audience as he tells them he is from North Carolina, and he feels very much alone up on that stage. But he has a plan. He has to press the button and keep the wheel spinning until he is sure it will land between the double zeros. When he hits the button, there is no stopping. The wheel spins and spins.
The host and the audience become increasingly impatient the longer the wheel spins, but the protagonist is caught up in his own thoughts. He feels like he is having some kind of experience of the divine. No matter what anyone says, he must keep going, so he continues to press the button and watch the wheel spin. This is his one chance, for Laura, for himself.
The protagonist’s thoughts continue to drift until he is not sure who he is anymore. He is cut off from everyone around him, thinking only of the wheel and of the prize and of Laura. He cries out in his anguish, rousing the host and the crowd even more, and he feels like he must keep that wheel spinning forever. The crowd mocks and taunts, and the protagonist grows angry, but the wheel spins on.
Suddenly, the protagonist becomes aware that there are two more men on the stage with him, police officers. He tries to escape, but he cannot stop pressing the button, so he runs in circles. “I can’t give it up,” he screams as he falls and someone steps on his wrist. Then a blow falls on his head, and he lets go of the button. The wheel falls at the double zero, but it is over. After an instant of happiness, one of the men knocks the protagonist unconscious. His luck has run out.