Racism And Struggle In Ralph Ellison's The Black Ball
Ellice Harrentsian
Mrs. Nosik
English 11
February 9, 2023
In Ralph Ellison's short story "The Black Ball," he uses dialogue to emphasize the theme of racism and struggle. The protagonist, John, is working when a Union man approaches him, telling him that he has a job for black people. John does not believe the man and thinks he is being racist. After John goes home, he and his son are out playing ball and his son's ball is stolen and thrown out the window. His father gets mad and blames him for not keeping an eye on his child. The story follows Joe's struggle to be treated like an equal to white people and his eventual realization that his son is starting to be subject to unfair treatment. Through Joe's experiences, Ellison demonstrates the ways in which racism and struggle are intertwined and how difficult it is for black people to find acceptance in a white world.
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In the beginning of the story while John is having a conversation with the Union man, the man makes a few insensitive remarks towards John, like, “Fellow like me offering a fellow like you something besides a rope.” This shows the subconscious bias that all people had toward black people at that time, even when they did not mean to be racist. Another instance where this is shown is at the end of the story when John is explaining to his son why the father got mad at him. John says the phrase `He meant, son, that if your ball landed in his office again, Daddy would go after it behind the old black ball." This shows that racism has been so ingrained in society that it has been internalized in the oppressed themselves. John only realizes that he was using the same language as his oppressor when his son pointed out that the ball was actually
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