The Core Meaning Behind Ralph Ellison's The Black Ball

The core meaning behind “The Black Ball” “The Black Ball,” by Ralph Ellison, describes a story about an African American hotel worker that experiences struggles because of his race. Through the characters in “The Black Ball” the author describes how you should treat everyone equally, and with respect regardless of the color of their skin. The narrator of the story is an African American hotel worker, with a white man as his boss. The man seems to be wise, and humble. He teaches a lot of life lessons to his son who is also dealing with struggles surrounding the color of his skin. He makes sure to reassure his son that everyone is equal regardless of their skin color. Also, he makes sure his son knows his self-worth, in which he teaches him

“He was four, a little brown boy in blue rompers, and when he talked and laughed with imaginary playmates, his voice was soft and round in its accents like those of most African Americans”(1). He describes how innocent his son seems to be as all of these struggles surrounding racism are foreign to him because of him being such a young age. The little boy is always asking his dad questions about being an African American. “Daddy, am I black?”(1), just shows how clueless, and how sad it makes the little boy to be called black by white kids. His father is quick to disclaim that, “Of course not, you’re brown. You know you’re not black” (1). The little boy’s father used these words to explain to his son that the color of your skin doesn’t matter, and that we are all the

He makes it clear to his son that everyone goes through challenges in life, and that it has nothing to do with the color of their skin. Throughout this story there were a lot of opportunities for the narrator to get very angry because of how he was being treated. He sensed the innocent look on his son’s face, and that he needed to be told not to listen to those rude white people. “If anyone should ask me, young man, I’d say your face needed a good washing” (6). This was said to the narrator which should have sparked an outbreak but he kept it together for the sake of his son. He teaches his son to ignore racist comments in hopes that when his kid is older he will know how to handle himself properly if he is put in the same