Battle Royal and the dreadful encounter of the invisible man - Assignment Example

Client’s xx November “Battle Royal” and the Dreadful Encounter of the Invisible Man I consider the “Battle Royal” scene in Ralph Ellison’s novel “Invisible Man” highly meaningful because it provides foundation to the core issue discussed in the novel which is invisibility of the black individuals. With Ellison’s use of numerous metaphors, images, and symbolisms, and first person point of view, he was able to effectively establish an open style of writing that allow him to deliver his message freely and without any restrictions.

The first person point of view is used in narrating the story of the “Battle Royal” and the rest of the novel, which I deem to be highly effective because it increases the effect of invisibility. The narrator, who happens to be the main character and the invisible man in the story, is not named which is just appropriate for the kind of tone the story wants to express. Furthermore, by using the first person point of view the readers are allowed to enter into the world of the invisible man and witness his experiences and developments.

The novel “Invisible Man” is written on a style that is, to a great extent, founded upon contemporary symbolism. The very scene presented in the chapter “Battle Royal” is a clear representation of how the African Americans are crudely and forbiddingly regarded by the Americans. Their presence is viewed as a form of entertainment rather than a respectable encounter. They are asked to participate in foolish acts which explicitly shows how the Americans abuse and ridicule them. In order to intensify such claim, Ellison used the imagery of a clown and relates it to the very idea of invisibility that is the fundamental concern of the novel’s main character.

For instance, the narrator at the Battle Royal pertains to his black challenger as a “stupid clown” who was destroying his opportunity of delivering his speech. In this scene, there is also the electrified rug, in which the winners need to step on to get their prizes, that makes another boy jumps up hyperbolically, “glistening with sweat like a circus seal” (Ellison 27). The narrator even expresses himself in an image of a clown: “Would not this go against my speech, and was not this a moment for humility, for nonresistance?

A blow to my head as I danced about sent my right eye popping like a jack-in-the-box and settled my dilemma” (Ellison 28). Ellison used the imagery of a clown to describe the characters and events in the story to basically communicate that the black people in the context of the novel are entertainers, rather than human beings, and victims of the whites, rather than their brothers. In addition, the richness of Ellison’s descriptive and graphic elaborations certainly helps to articulate the seriousness and possible risk of a “Battle Royal.

” It may be a source of fun, laughter, and entertainment for the white people, but a true danger to the black participants. The quotes like “I could see black, sweat washed forms weaving to the rapid drum-like thuds of blows” (Ellison 23), and “And I lay there, hazily watching a dark red spot of my own blood shaping itself into a butterfly, glistening and soaking into the soiled gray world of the canvas (Ellison 25) are vivid description of the fear and pain that the white people have placed upon the black individuals.