Battle Royal

In Battle Royal, Ellison shows us various things to bring our attention

to the pain the minority group suffered. In doing this Ellison shows us

relationships between the torment they felt to our feelings for them. When the

boys enter the boxing ring, they are shown off like animals. The woman dancing

represents the sick pleasure derived from the boys' torture. Ellison shows us a

picture of the human mind, in seeing something to lust after then watching young

men being beaten nearly to death as a form of entertainment. He does this to

show us a view of human nature.

In oppression to the torment the boys developed a sort of counter attack.

The boys were so eager for the the fake money that they suffered electric

shocks to grab it. I think this sort of surprised the audience, beings that the

boys never gave up the fight. It was as thought giving up would have meant

giving up much more than money or a boxing match. It would have been a loss of

dignity and pride, none of them wanted to lose that. Also, by the time the boys

were given the chance to chase the money, they were numb from pain. I don't

think the new torture methods were really affecting the boys. Their bodies

became somewhat immune to the blows after awhile.

My battle royal was a little bit different from the boys in the story.

I did not really suffer from outside torment. The battle I faced was mostly

inside myself. People didn't have to say anything and I would be judging myself

and putting myself down. Like the boys in the boxing ring fighting one another,

I would have to fight with my own feelings to overcome things. Each time I made

a