Symbolism In Battle Royal

Elliott Hoepf

Professor Hawes

English 200-225

5 March 2015

Journal #1 The story Battle Royal is a truly a battle against one’s own self more than it is against each other. In the story the narrator is willing to do anything to achieve his dreams. This is illustrated by how he goes does not resist the complete oppression of the whites and the mental beating the put on him. In the story the narrator persisted to fight through the temptation of oppression of the stripper, the beating in the ring, and the electric rug just for a little scrap change (Ellison 181-183). All of this would commonly be regarded as treason towards his African American heritage like his grandfather said (Ellison 177). I feel that going against his race for his dream
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All of the envelopes symbolize all the senseless test and trials he goes through, such as the electric rug (Ellison 182-183). The circus symbolized the how he was entertainment for the white men (Ellison 186). Most essential, the message, symbolizes the value of the rewards he originally gets from the trials, coins and brass pieces (Ellison 182). The message also symbolizes that they will keep having him go through these trials as long as it is entertaining. The scene with the stripper shows that the blacks we not the only ones exploited for entertainment. The stripper had more sympathy and was “wanted” but she was also had to do ethically conflicting tasks to earn a little cash from the rich whites (Ellison 179-181). She symbolizes that freedom in America does not really exist unless you fit into the right class, like the rich white men, this is why she bears the American flag, the symbol of freedom to remind us of how free she really seems (Ellison
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I believe this is due to her loneliness and solitude throughout her 20’s and 30’s (Emily Dickinson's Biography). It also was probably an effect of the losses in her life and the time period she was in being rather stagnate compared to society today ( Garcia, Emily Dickinson). Dickinson likely was depressed and found little satisfaction in anything outside of literature. She likely found that she could excel in writing and put fourth much energy towards it. Literature became Dickinson’s life. This is why she shows such a fascination towards it. “There is no frigate like a book”, this shows that she found literature as a great escape from life (Dickinson 1). Dickinson’s isolation to the world is further exemplified in, “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” I believe that this poem shows that she believes that she is nobody, and finds no reason to become a “somebody” because it is useless to her (Dickinson). She shows that she feels that is useless because she says “tell it to the bog –the livelong June- to an admiring Bog!” (Dickinson 7-8). The poem “I can wade grief”, further shows how her writings were affected by the death of her family members and romances, Dickinson says “I Can wade grief, whole pools of it, I am used to that” (Dickinson 1-3; Emily Dickinson's Biography). Another sign of Dickinson’s depressing thoughts of solitude and losses are shown when she writes the poem “Are friends a