The American Dream

The American Dream

In Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal” there is magnificent blonde—stark naked” (Myer 235). This woman is dancing nude in the center of all of the white and black men before the fights begin as a form of entertainment for the white men. She is wearing heavy makeup and has a small American flag tattoo on her belly. The narrator is strongly attracted to this woman. The narrator wanted “to caress her and destroy her, to love her and murder her” (Myer 235). This woman represents the American dream. The American dream is freedom, equality, and independence. The narrator is not sure whether or not he wants to embrace and attain the American dream or abolish it.

The white men “began reaching out to touch her” (Meyer 236). “They ran laughing and howling after her” (Myer 236). They “raised her from the floor, and tossed her as college boys are tossed at a hazing” (Myer 236). The white men are quite comfortable with the American dream. They know that they have already achieved it and in a way they take advantage of it. They toss it around like it is nothing. In a sense the white men are mocking the American dream. The big wigs feel that what they have is even better than the American dream. They don’t seek equality. They seek domination.

The symbol of the blonde dancing nude is pivotal in this story. She is what the narrator is fighting for. The narrator is striving toward freedom, equality, and independence. He went through all of the fighting just to read his speech. His speech meant so much to him because it spoke of equality. The blonde woman is a conventional symbol. She has the American flag tattooed on her belly which is highly recognizable to society.

Work Cited

Ellison, Ralph. “Battle Royal.” The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012. 233-43. Print.