Symbolism in Ralph Ellison's Battle Royal Analysis

Ralph Ellison, Battle Royal: Literary Analysis Symbolism – the artistic and deliberate use of representations in literary works – assists in presenting to audiences both explicit as well as implicit meanings of various concepts and entities. Authors, poets, and other composers thus make great use of this highly effective literary device as they seek to convey varied messages to audiences. To illustrate, through the ‘battle royal’ element within the Invisible Man novel, author Ralph Ellison makes use of this literary device to induce audiences to form varied connotative as well as denotative meanings.

Specifically, the fact that the novel’s narrator, as well as his fellow classmates (all blindfolded), are engaged in a duel is very symbolic. To strike closer home, the blindfolded nature of the contestants has a deep symbolic denotative and as well as connotative meanings.

On the connotative side, such a blindfolded situation demonstrates the ignorance that the parties, who are all Blacks, usually espouse. Conversely, by being engaged in a duel while blindfolded, the ten Black youths indicate that the Black population is generally backwards with regard to seeking to gain knowledge and understanding.

In addition, by using this symbolic element, Ellison adds a further twist to the story’s overall meaning. For example, it is notable that the Blacks do not demonstrate any significant resistance towards the idea of facing off their fellow Blacks in a blind duel. It thus seems as though the Blacks are passive partakers of the humiliation that the Whites mete out on them.

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The Battle Royal

In addition, it is important to note that the author employs a conventional symbolic element by describing the Blacks as being blindfolded. This is because blindfolds have the conventional meaning of implying lack of sight or understanding. All in all, in the Invisible Man novel, Ellison incorporates a conventional symbolic element, particularly; the author presents the Black contestants as being blindfolded to demonstrate their ignorance as well as their (the Blacks’) general apathy towards seeking justice, progress and development. For example, regarding the connotative implication of this symbolic element, by being blindfolded, the Black youths point to a general unwillingness of the Black community to agitate for positive change. For instance, it is very notable that the Blacks have seemingly agreed to be blindfolded, without any meaningful resistance, and then went ahead to engage in a duel.

This viewpoint describes the Blacks as being people who are in some sort of comfort zone with regard to advocating for sociopolitical reforms regarding the plight of the Blacks. For this reason, the Blacks are seen as being a generally apathetic group of people with regard to seeking socioeconomic rights similar to those of the Whites. On the other hand, the denotative symbolic meaning of the blindfolded condition of the Black youths is that Blacks do not generally carefully ponder over most of their actions. For instance, it is without doubt that the duel that the Blacks are engaged in is very messy owing to the lack of the contribution of the important sense of sight. It thus follows that what the youths employ mostly as they duel is intuition and even mere guesswork.

Similarly, Blacks are symbolically described as doing their things haphazardly through this symbolic element. In conclusion, Ellison’s Invisible Man novel’s ‘battle royal’ element uses the symbolic element of the dueling and blindfolded Black youths to explore certain Black qualities. For example, this depiction shows that Blacks generally lack a definite focus in their activities. Conversely, the general apathy among Blacks is demonstrated.