Racial Invisibility Of Color In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

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In the 1950s, Ralph Ellison published Invisible Man which focused on the racial invisibility of people of color. The chapter, “Battle Royal,” reflects a pre-Civil Rights Era where blacks and whites were considered “separate, but equal.” Ellison describes a life where blacks were separate, but not truly equal because they still lived a life where they had to be careful and live consciously around whites or face harassment or even death. In Ellison’s story, an unnamed narrator receives a letter awarding him a scholarship. The narrator is asked to deliver a speech and at the event, he discovers that he will need to participate in a “battle royal.” In Ellison’s narrative, the event of the required “battle royal” symbolically illustrates how the …show more content…

She is supposed to be representing freedom for the whites and making it known that the blacks have none. The naked woman symbolized a form of freedom. The white men brought in a naked woman with an American flag painted on her and if any of the black boys looked at her they were going to be in a lot of trouble. A lot of the black boys couldn’t look because unlike the white men staring and drooling the black boys had feeling and they felt her pain. The white men used her as a toy just like they were using the black boys for their own enjoyment. When the narrator finally was able to look up at her he saw the pain in her eyes. He knew she was dying inside and was trapped and had no escape just like him. Even though she was a white woman she had no freedom she was like a slave, a show for the white men. Written below it shows how one guy took control over the naked women and had his way with her unlike the black boys. They had more decency to look away and try to treat her with the respect she deserved. Unlike the white man who took control over the white women the grandson stated that “I noticed a certain merchant who followed her hungrily, his lips loose and drooling”. The white women even though they were white they were slaves to the white men just like the black boys were. The white women were only good for certain things like cooking, cleaning and waiting hand and foot for the white males. The worst part of it all was that the white males talked down upon and treated them like sex objects rather than human beings. Not only blacks had it bad so did the women they surely didn’t have the life they truly

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