If I had to pick one out of the many stories that we have read and say t

hat it moved me the most, I would have to say that the story would have to be "B
attle Royal." The reason that the story did move me so was because of the author
's keens use of symbolism. I intend to prove, using textual evidence, that throu
gh the use of symbolism, the author portrays a larger meaning than what is initi
ally implied to the reader who does not thoroughly analyze the text.
Initially, the story seems to be about one black boy's struggle to get a
head in a prodominetly white society. He tries' to accomplish this goal by adher
ing to his grandfathers dieing words. His grand father told him to "live with yo
ur head in the lion's mouth. I want you to overcome 'em with yeses, undermine 'e
m with grins, agree 'em to death and destruction, let 'em swoller you till they
vomit or bust wide open." In other words his grandfather was telling him to conf
orm to the white peoples way of life in order to get ahead. I believe that the s
tory had a deeper meaning than the aforementioned one. I believe that if the rea
der were to take a deeper look into all of the symbolism in the story, one would
find that the summation of all the symbolism is equal to not only the struggle
of this one black boy, but the struggle of all blacks at the time in which this
story takes place.
I think that if one were to analyze the grandfathers dieing words, one w
ould find the view of most conformist black Americans. The only way for a black
person to excel at that time was to conform to the white society. Any rebels tha
t tried to stand up for their rights were mostly killed by anti-black groups suc
h as the KKK.
There was one symbol in the story that stood out especially in my mind a
nd that was the stripper. She was a tall blonde haired blue eyed woman with a ta
ttoo of the American flag on her belie. I think that the stripper symbolized the
perfect American white woman, something that a black man could strive his whole
life to attain, but would never receive. This was a symbol of the many things t
hat a white man could have, whereas a black man could not.
I believe that the blind folded boxing in the story is a representation
of the blind hatred of blacks at the time this story took place. By blind hatred
I mean the ignorance of the people of the time who could hate a person for the
color of their skin. The boxers in the ring wailed at each other, not knowing wh
om they were hitting or why, just that they had to fight. This was true in the w
hite American society of the time because they didn't know the black people, the
y blindly sent blows of segregation without actually knowing each individual, bu
t stereotyped a whole race as no good and as lesser beings simply for the color
of their skin.
Another important symbol in the story that helps piece together my theor
y of the meaning of the story was the money rug. These boys were given the oppor
tunity to make money by simply taking it off of the rug, the only hitch being th
at the coins were electrified. Every time that a boy got his hands on a piece of
money, they would receive an electric shock. I believe that this symbolized the
black Americans economic struggle. The black American could make a lot of money
, but only through pain and toil and by becoming a "puppet on a string" to the w
hite people. Every time that a black person would get a leg p in the ladder of l
ife, someone was there to knock him back down. And even after all the toil and h
ardship endured, they were no better off than they were when they started, which
was true in the story also because after all the shocks that the boys had endur
ed, when they got done, they found that the money was not real in the first plac
e. So they too were no better off than they were when they started.
After all was done and the boy finally delivered his speech, he was give
n a brief case and a diploma. I believe that the act of giving him these article
s was a symbol of the white's dominance over the blacks. I say this because the
boy had to endure a boxing match, being shocked, and being called all kinds of
nasty names, and he had to do it before he delivered his speech. It was if they
were saying, "you've done a good job, thanks for the amusement, here's your rewa
rd." I t all goes back to that "puppet on a string," the blacks were made to eve

rything that the whites wanted them to.

I hope that I have provided substantially enough documentation to prove
to you that this story has a deeper meaning than the struggle of one black boy
to deliver a speech to a white crowd who has no interest in what he's saying. Th
is story is about the struggle of the every day black American of the time. Blac
ks had to conform to the white society, and were led to believe that if they con
formed, they would fit in. But as you can see in the end of the story, the young
black man portrayed in the story no more fit in at the end of his speech than h
e did at the beginning. But something has to be said for the boys persistence an
d for black Americans of the time. No matter what hardships the boy endured, he
kept his mind on his final goal, the speech that he had to deliver. I believe th
at this was the mainstream way of thinking of the black Americans of the time. N
o matter how much they were kept down by the whites, they kept their minds on th
eir final goal, social equality.