Battle Royal

There are many symbols in Ralph Ellison’s story “Battle Royal.” Ellison’s story is full of excellent symbolism of how African-Americans have struggled throughout history to fight for their equality. The narrator starts off the story by describing his grandfather’s dying last words. In his last words, the grandfather expresses his wishes for future generations to continue the struggle for black equality. Ellison uses many symbols in this story to demonstrate the lack …

…struggles of African-Americans. The story starts out describing the grandfather’s concerns for future generations in their struggle for black equality. Throughout the story, the narrator shows how African-Americans have struggled just to be able to be recognized as a productive part of civilization. The narrator shows throughout the story that the fight for black equality is not over. He picks up his grandfather’s freedom and equality torch and continues to run with it.