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The Role Of Censorship In Ralph Ellison's Battle Royal

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United States of America, a country that is known for its striving democracy and its amendment towards “freedom of speech”, made an unlawful decision by allowing many public places like libraries and schools to apply censorship and ban books. Literature and any other type of writing are all types of freedom of speech because it allows each author to express themselves and their message through their work. With the authority of censorship and banning of books in a democracy like the United States causes a danger to us because we would not have the ability to obtain certain knowledge that might help us in a significant way. Additionally, I think we would be affected if we did not read any of the short stories we read in class, for example, “Battle Royal” by Ralph Ellison. If we had not read “Battle Royal, we would never have the chance to unscramble and understand his symbolism in his …show more content…

In Ellison short story “Battle Royal” he shows us readers his view on the American society and the black struggles that are inscribed in it. In the Beginning of the story Ellison shows that during his time period there were some black people that felt regret on not taking a stand against the white people and instead just live a life of inequality. The narrator grandfather gave him a long speech on his deathbed that was full of real thoughts of the black people of Ellison time. In the short story “Battle Royal”, the grandfather proclaims, “I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy's country”. Clarifying the fact that the life he lived was not a life he intended to but the only way he thought he could survive was to live it in that manner. The words that the narrator took from his grandfather became a constant puzzle which lay unanswered in the back of his mind, which made a wider view of how Ellison viewed the world at his

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