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¶ … Ralph Ellison's " Battle Royal," and Flannery O'Connor's " Revelation."
Specifically, it will look at the prejudices of some of the characters in both stories. One protagonist faces blind, hateful prejudice in "Battle Royal," and the other perpetrates it in "Revelation." Prejudice is ugly, and each story presents it as horribly as possible, to get that message across to the reader.
PREJUDICE IN TWO SHORT STORIES
Battle Royal" by Ralph Ellison is the first chapter of his legendary book "The Invisible Man." This Prologue to the story introduces us to the protagonist, and graphically illustrates the prejudices Black people faced (and still face) in the South after the Civil War. I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed of myself for having at one time been ashamed" (Ellison).
The main character of "Battle Royal" is a young black man, who undergoes violent "hazing" to win a scholarship to a Black university. He must fight other boys blindfolded in a ring, and then, the drunken "upstanding men of the community" give the boys their reward, useless golden tokens spread out on an electrified rug. "A hot, violent force tore through my body, shaking me like a wet rat. The rug was electrified. The hair bristled up on my head as I shook myself free" (Ellison). Not only is it humiliating, it is stark hatred and prejudice in the form of "philanthropy."
The protagonist submits to the torture of the grown men because that is what he has been taught to do, submit...
Washington. "Mr. Washington represents in Negro thought the old attitude of adjustment and submission..." (Du Bois). He even likens himself to Washington at the beginning of the story.
And besides, I suspected that fighting a battle royal might detract from the dignity of my speech. In those pre-invisible days I visualized myself as a potential Booker T. Washington" (Ellison).
Ellison's graphic portrayal of prejudice and evil is unsettling and extremely disturbing. While intellectually the reader might know things like this occurred in the South, it is difficult to picture, and even more difficult to see the reaction of the boys. They were terrified, and rightly so. They were treated worse than animals - as if they had no feelings.
By opening his book with this vivid depiction, Ellison sets the stage for his character's transformation, and with a bit of luck, the transformation of any prejudices the reader may have. To recognize evil for what it is can be the beginning of transformation, and clearly, Ellison is hoping for a transformation of prejudicial beliefs for the reader of this novel.
O'Connor's "Revelation" argues against prejudice just as effectively as "Battle Royal," but uses a completely different technique. The protagonist in this story, Ruby Turpin, is the epitome of hate and prejudice. She has each race neatly compartmentalized in her "Christian" head, and thinks her family is better than they all are, even though they raise…
References
Du Bois, W.E.B. "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others."
Ellison, Ralph. "Battle Royal." The Invisible Man.
O'Connor, Flannery. "Revelations."
Washington, Booker T. "Atlanta Exposition Address."
"You've got good blood! I know you wouldn't shoot a lady! I know you come from nice people! Pray! Jesus, you ought not to shoot a lady.... "Lady,"...There were two more pistol reports and the grandmother raised her head like a parched old turkey hen crying for water and called, "Bailey Boy, Bailey Boy!" As if her heart would break. "Jesus was the only One that ever raised the
..if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life." [8] in O'Connor's case, that somebody was lupus. End notes. 1] O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Archived at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR/goodman.html 2] Knickerbopcker, Eric. "Flannery O'Connor: Heaven Suffereth Violence" Available at http://www.mrrena.com/flannery.shtml 3] O'Connor, Flannery. "Everything that Rises Must Converge." Archived at http://www.geocities.com/cyber_explorer99/oconnorconverge.html 4] O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Archived at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR/goodman.html 5] Galloway, Patrick. "The
Flannery O'Connor Writing is an ancient art, used from long ago to convey various aspects, including entertainment, education, recording of history, critiquing and rebuking, writing revelations and many other purposes. There are various forms of writing, in which authors engage to put forth their feelings and intention. Additionally, history has many prolific and congruent writers who made names for themselves through writing instinctively about various themes and issues. Among the writers
Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, in the Deep South-East of the United States in 1925. Her adolescence was marked by the death of her father, from whom she later inherited the disease, deadly enemy with whom she fought, without surrender, for a lifetime. (Ann, pp74-78) However, her childhood was marked by more or less serene moments; she was taken to be, at the age of 6 years, a minor
He then utters the story's baffling last line, "It's no real pleasure in life" (O'Connor 1955b, 456). Thus, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" can be read as something of the inverse, or parallel, parable to "Good Country People": In the former, nihilism, or the absence of belief, wins out over faith, despite the Misfit's ugly admonition that his anti-programmatic perception of the world is ultimately not firm
Flannery O'Connor's literature has been described as grotesque, Catholic, Southern, and even gothic. Her work has also been recognized for its harsh humor and criticism of the south. Much of her literature reflects the hostilities she experienced against racist southern attitudes, social structures, and southern ways of life. She was awarded three O. Henry awards for short fiction during her life as well as numerous grants and fellowships. After her