Literary Elements In Battle Royal, By Ralph Ellison

In Ralph Ellison’s short story “Battle Royal” Ellison describes how after graduation he battles to survive the chaos that trembles around him. Ellison was educated at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where he studied music. His only published novel was, “Invisible Man” and it gained his reputation as a writer. In order to get what you want, Ellison went through a fight by himself, in a way that the price was too deadly to go through. The literary element that is strong in the story, imagery is important because you can see his event in your head like how he describes the experience and the how the readers feels his pain in how they response in the actions in the story. Ellison as a boy, has a flashback to when his grandfather die and how his last words before dying puzzled

After that they were blindfolded and started boxing each other for money. After all that he finally delivered his speech, got a briefcase, and a scholarship to the state college for Negroes. He woke up at the end of the story from his dream about his grandfather after all that he just went through. This story feels like you're in Ellison's stiatuoian and want to help him when he describes his body's reaction and can see everything horrible at the beginning of the fight. “The smoke has become thicker, restricting my lungs with my saliva became like hot bitter glue. A glove connected to my head and I could not tell if the moisture on my body and everywhere was seat or blood. A blow hit my neck sending me down to the floor hitting my head hard on the floor.”(Ellison pg 237). The reader response to this by actual seeing the smoke and the feeling of being sweaty or having blood on them. The reader cringes when he gets knocked down, because the reader can imagine hearing the thud of the head hitting the ground, and the yelling from the