"Battle Royal", an excerpt from Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, is far more than a commentary on the racial issues faced in society at that time. It is an example of African-American literature that addresses not only the social impacts of racism, but the psychological components as well. The narrator (IM) is thrust from living according to the perceptions of who he believes himself to be to trying to survive in a realm where he isn't supposed to exist, much less thrive. The invisibility of a mass of people in a society fed the derivation of IM's accepted, willed, blindness. The reader must determine the source of what makes IM invisible. Is part of IM's invisibility due to his self-image or surrender to the dominant voice in the United States? The answer lies in whether or not the blindness and the invisibility were voluntary or compulsory.

The relationship between IM's blindness and his invisibility are not due solely to the color of his skin. There is a level of invisibility that does directly result from the prejudice of the white men. The white community is

IM is forced to participate in a battle before he is permitted to speak. And in order to fight he has to be lifted up to where the white men are in a "servants' elevator." He sees himself as better than he sees the other men fighting in the battle because he is educated and they are brutes. He does not see that to the men upstairs they are all the same, indistinguishable one from another. The black men in the elevator do not see IM as an educated man, they see him as five dollars less in their friend's pocket. The black men see IM as an unwanted member of their group. IM ignores this, turns a blind eye to it, because he has no desire to be a part of the same world as those men. The white men see IM as just another black man. IM is blind to this as well because he cannot accept it. It is not until he enters the ballroom that he is forced to glimpse at his place in reality.

It is not only the image of a white woman that he cannot have; it is everything the woman is in white society. She is the national treasure, the mother of the future; she is wealth, status, power and freedom. Her hair is gold, wealth. Her place in center stage is status and power. Her nakedness is freedom. The woman herself is not truly free, but this is invisible to IM. He only sees "that in all the room she saw only [him] with her impersonal eyes" (1527). He does not seem to focus on the impersonal aspect of her eyes. He only sees that she is looking at him. He cannot see that she does not see him. He does not see that the dancer's personhood is invisible to everyone watching her. The dancer's person is as invisible to IM as IM is to the dancer. He sees a white stripper; the world sees a white stripper. He looks in the mirror and sees a young man with a bright future; the world sees a "shine". He does not apply his rules of perception to himself.

The young men exit the elevator and look up to see a young white nude dancer gyrating around the room. "Some [of the white men] threatened [IM and the other black men] if [they] looked and others if [they] did not" (1527). IM is catapulted into facing what he has allowed himself to not see. The beautiful, naked, blonde stripper, stamped with the symbol of America, is the embodiment of everything IM does not have and can never hope to obtain. It does not matter that he does not see his own community because his focus is on success in white society. It does not matter that he is young, handsome and intelligent. He is a black man. He cannot even look at what he cannot have without fearing for his life.

The men in the ring fought one against the other, "No group fought together for long. Two, three, four fought one, then turned to fight each other . . . " (1529). Like crabs in a barrel, no one was allowed to escape the barrage of fists. The men reached out blindly, striking whatever was close enough to hit. For five dollars, the men allowed themselves to be subjected to blindness and humiliation. Blacks were turned against blacks in striving for a few extra dollars. IM is witness to all of this and subject to it at the same time. He dodges blows and connects some himself, but also allows himself to be pummeled in order to maintain his ability to see. For a moment he has realized that there is a price to seeing, in this case, the price is blood. The men around him are still blind. They still fight viciously among themselves

Some common words found in the essay are:
IM IM, Ellison's Invisible, battle royal, Blind Invisible, white society, Battle Royal, invisible im, black im, im im, Ralph Ellison's, battle royal tension, ten black fighting, white stripper, im black, battle im, pushed battle, five dollars,
Approximate Word count = 2294
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)