Every taboo traditional to our society is in this short story by Ralph Ellison. “Battle Royal” has violence, racism, sex and disability (though metaphorical). These taboos all contribute to the theme of metaphorical blindness.
During the fight scene, the narrator and the other fighters are literally blindfolded with cloth to lengthen and increase the violence of the battle between the ten fighters. The blindfolding is also metaphorical. The narrator is blind to his needs and even his own morality. His only form of morality is his grandfather’s dying words which make him feel guilty and like a traitor every time he succeeds. However, he is blind to his own sense of morality which is shown through his dream. When the letter from his briefcase in his dream says “keep this nigger-boy running”, it shows that his subconscious knows that it is wrong for the white men to keep him constantly working as a submissive and obedient man without any real reward.
His blindness is similar to the blindness Ellison saw in Booker T. Washington. Both the narrator and Washington were blind to the sadistic nature many white men had toward black men regardless of the men’s social or economic status. Both men believed that if they just kept succeeding economically and educationally in the white man’s eye, that eventually the white men would see them as equals.
Overall, the metaphorical blindness in “Battle Royal” is symbolic of the blindness to reality that Ellison believed many black writers and social activists of the time believed in.

The part of Battle Royal written by Ralph Ellison expresses the cultural or social norms that existed during the time of “separate but equal” life of African Americans. Here, we are shown the beliefs of how one should act, especially during that time. African Americans were expected to act a certain way and still submit to the white man. This is show when the narrator is forced to fight in a battle royal as a form of entertainment for the “important” white men of the town. Not only were African Americans discriminated against and were believed to obey to the white man, women were also looked down upon. This is shown when the white stripper comes out, the woman really is given no respect. Through this whole scene it shows a nonstop fight, between the narrator and the white men, him and other black physically, and himself to get the confidence and courage to show his pride and give his speech to a bunch of people with no proper respect to him just because of his race. This book is filled with imagery that will fill one’s head with a bunch of pictures that are vivid and have meaning behind each one. The descriptions the narrator tells the reader puts them right into the story to get an emotional feeling out of the troubles of segregation.

In Ralph Ellison’s short story Battle Royal, he talks about a young mans quest for identity, making this a very relatable topic for young adults. This is a theme that everyone is able to connect to. What makes his story even more compelling however, is how he equates this particular boys identity quest with his past.

During this young boys quest it is interesting to see the take that Ellison uses. The young boy was placed in a position of minority in a time period that should have had more equality. Ellison uses an immense amount of imagery to bring this quest to life for the readers. It is with this imagery that that Ellison shows that the world was trying to prove that history continuously repeats itself. In this boys history his ancestors were slaves living in a white mans world. This imagery of the crowd with their beer in hand and cigars smoke in the air yelling like wild animals watching the black boys beating themselves in a ring for amusement, is similar to white man using slaves to do the work so they could have amusement in other ways.

There is even a line where the boy says, “there was nothing to do but what we were told.” At that point he could no longer make his own decision but only take orders. There was then the imagery of the boys being “blind folded fighters.” I felt that this was in a way the boy fighting blindly to gain his independence back.

Ralph Ellison is really trying to show that society has not really come to accept social equality yet.

It’s amazing how horrible some white people used to treat the African Americans after they finally gained their freedom. Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal” gives the reader insight on the harsh social clashes that took place between white and black people through different situations the narrator faces. The white people are merely using the African Americans for pure entertainment, and it appears as if the narrator is completely blind to it. He is only focused on being able to read his essay to the crowd. Little does he know they are putting him through a battle royal for pure entertainment. The use of the white stripper before the fight almost invokes anger in the crowd and serves as more entertainment and a mockery of the black race. This mockery is not the only theme in the story. The narrator’s grandfather calls for him to rise up and not live under the limitations the white race has over the black people. The narrator does not understand the words at first. It is not until the he finally delivers his speech and receives a scholarship that he begins to realize the meaning of those words. The white people are using the scholarship as another way to keep the narrator down and still be obedient without conflict. The grandfather’s words are powerful and I infer that in the Invisible Man the narrator finally realizes what these words mean and takes action.

“Battle Royal”, by Ralph Ellison, is a short story that describes the way that African Americans were treated during the 1960s. This story shows how even though the African Americans were supposed to be equal, during this time; they were still being treated cruelly and unequally. Ellison shows readers the unfair treatments of the African American people, by showing the social norms that were expected during this time period, especially concerning the African American community. The narrator of the story is an educated African American that gets himself involved in a battle royal, which takes place in front of all of the important white men in the town. The African Americans are being placed in positions that test their place in society, and test the way that they view the white males. When the battle begins, the men are all blindfolded and put in the rink to fight. Ellison uses the blindfolds as a symbol to explain the blindness that both races have. The African Americans, especially the narrator, are blinded by the way they view white people. They do not ‘see’ the cruelty that the white men are forcing upon them, nor do they see that the white males are actually using them as entertainment and not being generous. The narrator is ‘blinded’ against the truth of the white society, and how they are degrading him to a savage or an animal, by making him fight in the rink. Ellison is explaining the way that the white society would humiliate the African American community for the sole purpose of entertainment. He is also commenting on the fact that the African Americans were buying into the false generosity provided by the white society, that they would do anything that might help them be viewed as a ‘good black man’.