Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal” is based on the struggles of African Americans with racism and the American dream. The narrative explores the life and struggles of a young African American man who is torn between living according to the African American values and trying to blend into the white American culture. His grandfather had taught him to remain true to the African American values although he was facing an internal conflict of trying to please the white men and life according to the expectations in order to avoid racism. Ellison’s narrative uses symbolism in its exploration of racism and the American dream. At the beginning of the narrative, we are introduced to a young black man whose experiences with racism is used to symbolize the experiences of blacks in the hands of white Americans. However, as the story progresses, we are introduced to yet another symbolism manifested in the naked blonde. This paper analyses the symbolic purpose of the naked blonde as well as her purpose and how it relates to the story’s exploration of racism and the American dream.
One of the symbols that the author uses to communicate his intended message in the story is the use of the naked blonde. This is one of the symbols that stood out in the story as it sticks to the mind of the reader. Through the eyes of the narrator, the reader is made create a picture of a blonde woman with a tattoo of the American flag on her belly. One of the symbolism that we get from the narrator’s vivid description of the naked blonde is that she represented a typical American white woman who is living the American dream. The American flag on the naked blonde represents the American dream of freedom and independence. It represents what the narrator and all other African Americans have been yearning to achieve. The narrator wishes he could be free and independent just like the naked blonde woman. Unfortunately, the narrator has been striving his entire life for this freedom and independence yet, just like other African Americans, he is not successful in living the American dream due to the racism that is deeply rooted in the American society. The naked blonde woman was therefore used to represent the many things that the white Americans could have, that an African American could not achieve.
Just like the African Americans, the naked blonde undergoes through a similar path of exploitation. She is exploited to be naked in front of men in order to satisfy the men’s desires, a sign of oppression and struggle in a masculine American society. The blonde woman is a stripper not because she enjoys doing so but because she is caught in between a system of oppression and struggle, perhaps it is her way of earning a living. The narrator’s description of how the white men in the room would pull the dancer in different directions shows how men in the American society had control over women. Similarly, it symbolized how the African Americans were under the control of the white Americans who would use them as they wish. It is also evident from the scene that the narrator had admired the blonde woman but the white men in the room would not allow him to get close to the woman. This is a clear depiction of racism as it showed how the American culture did not allow African Americans to interact with white Americans. Therefore, the blonde symbolizes both the exploitation, struggle and oppression of women as well as African Americans, especially during the early 20th century (Purcell 103).
Ellison also uses the blonde woman in the exploration of how the ambiguity behind the American dream. Despite being a white woman, the blonde is not as free and independent as it would be expected of a white person in an American society. The author uses her story for the purpose of portraying how the American dream was unattainable. Through the exploration of the blonde, Ellison is able to demonstrate how the dream was only meant for a chosen few especially the wealthy white Americans. It is also through the incident where the white men would not let the narrator have the blonde woman, the author portrays how racism is a hindrance to the attainment of the American dream of equality and freedom.
In the scene where the blonde woman escapes after being helped by a sober good Samaritan, it symbolizes the author’s position that it was time for those were oppressed and exploited to free themselves. Ellison uses the blonde woman’s story to not only as a plight for women who are oppressed and exploited but also the African Americans who constantly face racism. In Fact, the introduction of the blonde woman as a character in the story makes the narrator realize how they shared the same oppression and struggle with the blonde woman. The narrator is able to relate the blonde woman’s suffering and oppression to his own as well as other African American people who experienced the same fate.
Works Cited
Purcell, Richard. "1965 and the Battle Over Who Spoke for the Negro." Race, Ralph Ellison and American Cold War Intellectual Culture, 2013, pp. 90-115.
