battle royal

Invisible Man- Ralph Ellison

In Invisible Man, the narrator is thrust into the world of being used by whites through the battle royal. The humiliation he faced for the sake of the wealthy men’s entertainment was a gateway into his college years. Although he believed that he would be able to achieve something through college, the narrator is once again left at the disposal of wealthy men in power, both black and white, kicked out of college for not being manipulated satisfactorily. Yet even after this, the narrator believes in the possibility of a bright future. It isn’t until the narrator encounter’s Emerson that he finally realizes that he was being used from the very beginning. At that moment, when the narrator decides to change and find a new life, there is hope for a better future. But doesn’t the narrator just fall into the same trap all over again with the brotherhood. Although the battle royal doesn’t literally take place, the narrator is once again manipulated into being controlled by someone else, and everything around him brings back the battle royal for so long ago.

First of all, both processes began with a speech. In the case of the battle royal, it began with his graduation speech in which he asserted that “humility was . . . the very essence of progress.” Those in power around him realized that his words fit their purpose from that moment decided the use him. In the case of the Brotherhood, it all began with his speech during the eviction of the old couple. Just like the powerful whites in the area in the narrator’s childhood, the Brotherhood realized that the narrator’s words matched their purpose and decided to use him. In both case, the ability of those in power to control the narrator came through something that the narrator wanted (the opportunity to continue his education and a job to support himself). However, while the whites and the Brotherhood were both controlling the narrator by asking him to speak for them, the narrator was convince that it was through his own power that he achieved the opportunity, calling his graduation speech a “great success” and being so proud of his capabilities in the Brotherhood that he gets offended when he gets left out of the leaders’ meetings.

Despite the narrator’s lack of suspicion towards those in power and inability to realize that he is being used, he does notice something is abnormal before he speaks in both cases. More specifically, he notices that he is isolated. Before the battle royal, the narrator notices that, in the elevator and waiting to enter the boxing ring, all the other boys seem to be separate from him, excluding him. In the same way, before the narrator’s first speech for the Brotherhood, he notices that Brother Jack takes “two of the other men by the arm and [retreats] to a corner.” The narrator outright states, “I am alone.” This isolation that the narrator feels in both cases continues during the events, as he is left alone in the battle royal and singled out for criticism after his Brotherhood speech, continues throughout his time in college and the Brotherhood as he tries to establish himself and finds no one to depend on other than himself.

Of course, the most obvious parallel of all is the location. A boxing ring. Fighting. A clear hint at what is to come for the narrator. He is never given a chance to live in peace. Rather he is constantly fighting. For the rights of others, for his own rights, for his own identity. A fight that is often fought against the very people that brought him to the boxing ring for his “opportunity.”