Symbolism in Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (Essay Sample)

“Battle Royale”, a story from the book Invisible Man written by Ralph Ellison, is set and written in the early stages of the Civil Rights Movement, and around the end of Harlem Renaissance. The story begins with a flashback of the events that happened in the past in the life of narrator and is told in first person point of view for most part. The narrator is a black man living in a small town and starts the story with the wise words of his grandfather that will empower the narrator during his struggles with finding his right place in the society further in the story. The main focus of the story is based on the racial inequality happening in the society way before the establishment of equality laws. The story guides the readers through the experiences of the narrator and his struggle to fit in the a society dominated by white people. The narrator getting forced into a planned fight while attempting to give his speech to a group of white men is seen to be representative of the struggles black people underwent to develop their own self-identity in a racist society owned by whites. African-American’s went through humiliation, emotional and physical abuse, name-calling just trying to achieve their dreams of being who they wanted to be. Ellison, throughout the story, uses heavy symbolism to bring light onto the social injustice faced by the black community in a white dominated society through the symbols of the exotic dancer, the battle, and the blindness to make the protagonist aware of the invisibility of a black person in American society.

Firstly, the white naked lady in the story, tattooed with an American Flag, symbolizes the loss of freedom and equality in America caused by the oppression of women and blacks by white men. For instance, while observing the white naked lady the narrator felt the force of attraction and guilt at the same time when, “[He] wanted at one and the same time to run from the room, to sink through the floor, or go to her and cover her from [his] eyes and the eyes of the others with [his] body; to feel the soft thighs, to caress her and destroy her, to love her and to murder her, to hide from her, and yet to stroke where below the small American flag tattooed upon her belly her thighs formed a capital V”(Ellison 3). One of the things the dancer represents is perfect white American woman, something the black people could never achieve even if they strive their whole life to attain it. It symbolizes one the things that a white man could possess, but a black man cannot and shows the racial inequality in an era where mixed marriages were prohibited. The narrator wishes to be equal so eagerly, he starts expressing himself to those kind of feelings by using words such as “caress her”, “feel the soft thighs”, “to love her”. By putting the white woman in front of the narrator  the white men are showing to the black men how inferior they are to the whites. They are teasing the narrator by showing what he wants but not letting him have what he wants which sparks a sort of hatred for the naked dancer in the eyes of the narrator, hence he seems uses words like “destroy her”, “murder her”. Madison Elkins, in research article published on female characters in Ellison’s works argues, “[The exotic dancer] is an object to be owned, coveted, destroyed— much less than a human being. Masked and hollow, the battle royal woman is invisible to the men for whom she dances, her sexuality engendering feelings of desire and murder alike”(Elkins). In addition, the white dancer is undergoing the same exploitation and struggle as the narrator. She has no control over her actions as she is thrown around, the same way the narrator has no control of being equal among the white men. The narrator mentions, this thought when, “[He] saw the terror and disgust in [dancer’s] eyes, almost like [his] own terror and that which [he] saw in some of the other boys.”(Ellison 4). This event dives further into the equality of both women and the African Americans and shows how both didn’t have any freedom over their financial and emotional paths, and were constantly held caprice in the white dominated society. 

Second, the battle itself serves as a symbol that represents the lack of unity in the black community in their fight for equality. The story is set in a time before the equality laws were established, most of the African Americans had to obey and follow anything a Whiteman says. For example, while standing against the rope, in a confused state, the narrator hears a Whiteman say, ‘See that boy over there?’ ‘I want you to run across at the bell and give it to him right in the belly. If you don’t get him, I’m going to get you. I don’t like his looks.’(Ellison 4). This shows the control white men had over the black people, they were ensuring these black people fight each other and be enemies among themselves. Ellison depicts such acts committed by the white people never let unity form among the black community to fight the segregation. The battle in the story can also be symbolized to the real African Americans had to fight to get equal opportunities in the Whiteman’s land. Ellison uses allegory in this event that depicts the black people’s efforts in overcoming racial oppression spanning from fear of slavery to the maltreatment of segregation. Later, Ellison describes the battle scene such as, “Everyone fought hysterically. It was complete anarchy. Everybody fought everybody else. No group fought together for long”(Ellison 5). This shows how the black men are taking their anger to fight amongst themselves instead of focusing that anger on fighting for their rights and reducing the control of the white men over them. The white men are motivating the black men to fight harder to prove themselves. While the black men were fighting for their own dignity and survival, the real profiters were the white men in the room who benefited in all the aspects of their life and enjoyed the luxuries of having what they want while the blacks didn’t. 

The third important symbol in the story is the blindfoldedness of the black men. The blindfold represents the blind hatred of black people. The whites had a blind hatred for the black community all because of the color of their skin, they couldn’t see the qualities of a black person beyond their skin color. For instance, the narrator describes the blindfolded experience of the battle such as, “blindfolded, [the narrator] could no longer control [his] motions. [he] had no dignity. [He] stumbled about like a baby or a drunken man”(Ellison 5). This illustrates the actual state of the white society in America where the whites blindly punched blows of segregation laws without really knowing who the black person is as an individual. Ellison in this symbolism shows the blind stereotyping of a whole race of African Americans as inferior beings simply on the color of skin. If looking from the perspective of black people, Ellison is also trying to show the protagonist that by forcing the black people to wear blindfolds shows the blindness of their strength when they are united. The black people are strong enough to fight for equal rights, but in reality they are turning on one another, they are mad at one another. The blacks blame the whole existence of their race for the injustice they face, but in reality the fault is of the whites and the blacks are blind to that fact. For example, in an interview with The Paris Review, Ralph Ellison elaborated on his purpose of making the boys blindfolded as he believed, “This is a vital part of behavior pattern in the South, which both Negroes and whites thoughtlessly accept. It is a ritual in preservation of caste lines, a keeping of taboo to appease the gods and ward of bad luck”(Ellison). This adds weight to the idea that the whites were blind because they saw blacks as objects with mass instead of individuals with certain qualities, and blacks are blind in the sense of submitting to this social injustice brought upon them by whites. Ellison want to show the protagonist that both whites and blacks are mutually blind and rather invisible. 

The use of symbolism in “Battle Royale” served its purpose of connecting fiction with reality, it added weight to the story whose aim was to make people aware of the horrors of segregation, before equality laws, and drive them towards making a society a better place with equal opportunities regardless of race, gender, class, etc. Present time America has laws that prevents social injustice but fails to abolish it. There are several events of social injustice that still go unanswered including healthcare, immigration, LGBTQ+, the list goes on(Hamilton). American society can’t forget its past. The past exists nonetheless and still present in the African Americans. “Battle Royale” was a little step made by Ralph Ellison in the hopes of achieving social integration in the society.