Race, Power, and Degradation in Battle Royale

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The magnificent blonde that paraded around the middle of the boxing ring was more than just amusement This was everything that these black men wanted but would never have She represented the American dream of power wealth and fame The narrator knew he could never have her but he looked anyway Had the price of looking been blindness I would have looked Pg198 The author had devoted his life to pleasing the white men so he could speak to be somebody but he would never amount to anything He was their toy The Battle Royal itself was a thorough example of the power that the white man had over the blacks All ten of the boys were made to go through acts of humiliation before and after they had fought and made to wear blindfolds during the actual fight The boys were degraded and humiliated throughout the whole event and didnt once think that they were being …show more content…

A few days after the fight the narrator had a dream that he and his grandfather were at the circus I dreamed that I was at the circus and that he refused to laugh at the clowns no matter what they did Pg 205 This dream was an image of what had happened that night at the Battle Royal He was one of the white men sitting in the crowd looking at what had been him and the other boys which were represented by the clowns His grandfather was trying to show him what he had really looked like that night in the ring Then he opened his briefcase to read what was inside He opened the envelope stamped with the state seal only to endlessly find envelope after envelope His grandfather explained to him that these envelops represented years of his life Finally the last envelope contained a letter which read To Whom It May Concern Keep This Nigger Boy Running Pg 205 This letter represented what the white man wanted for him They wanted him to become educated and to eventually lead his people They figured that they could keep him busy leading his people in circles To keep them ever chasing their dreams to which they would never catch up

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