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Ralph Ellison Slavery

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This stunning piece of work depicts the utmost level of atrocities that the African-American had to endure before social equality became acceptable. The story absolutely numbs the mind, and it takes a while for the harshness to sink in. One cannot help but imagine what it was like to belong to a part of the slave world.The author, Ralph Ellison, has explicitly described the physical status of the narrator and his other black counterparts as he faces the many humiliating challenges in the ring. This can be felt by the many instances in the story, "A blow landed hard against the nape of my neck", "Blows landed below the belt and in the kidney", and many more. The author has symbolically, yet vividly described to the readers the socio economic conditions of the black community. In spite of being intelligent and wise, they were never good enough to enjoy an equal status in society.This is seen when the author wrote about the audience 's reaction when the protagonist says the words social equality during his speech," Sounds of displeasure filled the room. They shouted hostile phrases at me"(Ellis). The African-Americans were looked down upon and had to shed their own blood, kill their own fellow-men, face humiliation, and had to be ready to accept whatever was tossed to them. Perhaps animals were in a better place, thus indicating the cruel color conflicts that existed in the segregated South. The first scenario at the smoke was of the white …show more content…

Concludingly, as a reader it can be analysed that this was no royal battle. It was a battle of inequality, a battle so gloomy and melancholic,that it wrenches the heart from the socket. This is probably only one of the multiple such sullen incidents where the color of the skin decided a persons fate. Being adults was it so difficult for these people to realize that people do not chose their color. They are born with it. If color decided fates and destinies then probably the racist white Americans of such mindsets, had black

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