Invisible Man - Battle Royal

The battle royal scene represents the entire novel and Ellison used the battle royal as inspiration for the rest of the novel. In many ways, the battle royal is representative of the system itself. Firstly, it is significant that the boys were blind folded at the beginning of the battle royal. Their physical blindness is representative of their multi-layer metaphorical blindness.  The boys are blind to the system itself and to what they believe the system has become. With the erection of black colleges and the abolishment of slavery blacks believe that society has progressed and become better for blacks. However the reality is that whites still view blacks as inferior and second class citizens. The boys are also blind to the true intentions of the whites. The whites pretend to help the blacks and act as if they want to help the boys but ultimately want to control the blacks for their own benefit. The true intentions of the whites are exemplified when the narrator accidently says “racial equality” in his speech and the whites become angered and stirred up. They do not want racial equality and they will not stand to hear a black boy give a speech about. They calm down when he corrects himself and says “racial responsibility” which shows that whites can tolerate blacks when the blacks are conforming to the values of the whites. The whites are also blind to the true nature of the blacks. By stereotyping all blacks into one category, the whites fail to see each of the boys as an individual. They are also blind to the true beliefs of the narrator who follows his grandfather’s words by agreeing with the whites but retaining his internal resentment for them.

The walls of the arena are symbolic of the confinement that blacks encounter within the system. They are stuck within the system and are unable to leave or change their situation. No matter what they do, they are unable to save themselves. By fighting within the battle royal, the boys further reinforce the stereotypical views that the whites have of blacks as animalistic and violent. The reality is that these stereotypes are forced upon the blacks and perpetuated by the whites. In order to survive, they must act violently, work within the system, and the blacks end up turning on each other. By fighting each other instead of the enemy which are the whites they do nothing to change the system and they remain in the metaphorical arena.

Another prominent image in the battle royal scene is the depiction of the white woman surrounded by the black boys. This creates the image of the eye and her tattoo of the American flag suggests that she represents blinded American values that are driven by sex and greed. Like the money that the boys couldn’t have because they electrocuted before they reached it, the woman is something that the boys cannot have. The scene is very sexual and relates to the animalistic nature of the battle royal/

Sonnet 129

The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and till action, lust
Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust,
Enjoy’d no sooner but despised straight,
Past reason hunted, and no sooner had
Past reason hated, as a swallow’d bait
On purpose laid to make the taker mad;
Mad in pursuit and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe;
Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream.
All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.


In sonnet 129, Shakespeare suggests that lust is an animalistic urge that drives human sexual action and ultimately leads to shame. The sonnet traces the different stages of lust in order to exemplify that lust leads to one’s downfall. The first stanza identifies what lust is and it describes lust as a negative desire. The first line calls lust an “expense of spirit” which suggests that it is costly to the spirit to lust and that you must sacrifice something in order to do something. It can be seen as something that contaminates the soul. The speaker goes on to add that it is a “waste of shame” which portrays it as shameful. Lust is also a waste because it is an unnecessary evil. The last two lines of the stanza list adjectives to describe lust and that suggest that lust is extremely sinful and dangerous. Lust parallels the devil which the intense immoral descriptions of it such as “perjured, murderous, bloody, and full of shame”. Lust is portrayed more like a living entity than a controllable emotion. Lust seems to have a mind of its own that allows it to over a man and use his sexual desires to compel him commit horrendous acts. Other descriptive words for lust such as “Savage, extreme, rude and cruel” connotes that lust is very animalistic. It represents a lack of self-control and sophistication.

The second stanza describes the effects of lust after the thing that you have been lusting over has been achieved. However even after it is obtained, lust continues to be a negative force that robs the person exemplifying it of their happiness. Lust makes a person feel crazy and “mad”. By definition, feelings of lust can never be quenched because lust is the desire for something(often sexual) that you cannot obtain. As a result, if you do happen obtain, you will begin to lust over something else that is currently unachievable. The line “Enjoy’d no sooner but despised straight” suggests the happiness of obtaining what you have lusted over is immediately replaced by self-deprecation and a realization that what you are doing is wrong and sinful.

The third stanza illustrates the false illusion that lust causes one live under. Lust causes the thing lusted over to appear to be something good and necessary to have. However this is a façade that results from the blocking of proper reasoning. Lust drives someone to become “mad in pursuit” so they become fully engaged in the pursuit and will do things that they wouldn’t normally do to obtain the thing that they are lusting over and they may do something “extreme”. The speaker finds paradoxical happiness in realizing that lust is “a very woe” and only leads to sadness.

The couplet compares lust to heaven and hell to portray the true nature of lust. Lust appears to be heaven by causing you to chase things you desire. However in actuality lust will drive you to hell because it taints the soul by causing you to chase sinful things. The line, “All this the world well knows; yet none knows well” points out the irony that though it is widely known that lust is evil, people neglect that and continue to lust.

The Significance of the grandfather's advice in Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

One of the most important quotes in Invisible Man are the instructions the grandfather gives to the narrator at the beginning of the novel. He tells the narrator, "Son, after I'm gone I want you to keep up the good fight. I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy's country ever since I give up my gun back in the Reconstruction. Live with your head in the lion's mouth. I want you to overcome 'em with yeses, undermine 'em with grins, agree 'em to death and destruction, let 'em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open...Learn it to the younguns". The narrator uses his grandfather's words as a guideline for his actions in the rest of book. The grandfather wants the narrator to wear a facade in which he acts as if he agrees with the whites while internally he retains his resentment for them. The grandfather calls himself a traitor because he becomes blinded by what the whites tell him. However there is no definite right or wrong and it remains ambiguous throughout the novel whether the grandfather’s words are the best way to combat inequality. The grandfather believes that in order for blacks to progress, they need support from the whites but that they shouldn’t become blinded by the vision of the whites. The whites mask their true intentions by appearing to be helping the blacks so the blacks must do the same to no become manipulated. The narrator is given similar advice by the vet later in the novel who says to him, “Come out of the fog, young man. And remember you don’t have to be a complete fool in order to succeed. Play the game, but don’t believe in it – that much you owe yourself”. The invisible man is conflicted on whether he should follow his father’s advice. The narrator says that “The old man’s words were like a curse” which connotes that the words were a burden and a standard he had to live up to rather than something he wanted to live by. As a result of following the advice, the narrator becomes invisible and unable to affect his surroundings. His invisibility protects him from being attacked by whites because they believe his views align with theirs; however in doing so he loses his own individuality. His grandfather’s words plague him as he is trying to find his own identity. The narrator says that “When I discover who I am, I’ll be free” which suggests that he feels confined within his invisibility and lack of identity because it leads to stagnation. In the brotherhood for example, he becomes a cog in a machine. Brother Jack tells the narrator, “You’re a soldier now, your health belongs to the organization” which suggests that the narrator must sacrifice his own individuality in order to progress the goals of the brotherhood and that within the brotherhood he is just a body that they use to get tasks done.

Mr. Norton

Mr. Norton represents the many ways in which whites have control over lives of blacks and glorify what they do for them. However his motives for running the college don’t stem from his desire to help blacks that need it, but because it gives him control over the lives of the thousands of students that attend the college. He doesn’t seem to view the students as human beings, but as parts of the project he has invested his life in.  He says “And it has been my pleasant fate to return each spring and observe the changes that the years have wrought” which suggests that he views the college more as an empire or a company than the home of thousands of students.  It further proves this point when he says, “That way I can observe in terms of living personalities to what extent my money, my time and hopes have been fruitfully invested”. Investing has the connotation of putting in time or money now in order to receive a profit in the long run. So rather than investing in the college in order to help other, he is hoping to get a profit which suggests he is seeking personal gain. Mr. Norton’s motives for running the college are self –centered and he is more concerned about how the college will affect his life than how it will affect the lives of his students.  He takes ownership over the fate of his students when he says, “I felt even as a young man that your people were closely connected with my destiny. Do you understand?”; in taking ownership over the lives of his students, he gives himself control over their lives. He is also only concerned with how his students’ lives affect his own rather than how he can affect the lives of his students. The irony is that Mr. Norton believes he is helping his students and the students believe that the college liberates them by giving them freedom in their fate; however the college actually has the opposite effect because it gives Mr. Norton control over the lives of the students. The fact that he asks the narrator if he understands is indicative of the condescension he has towards him.  Also, while reading Hamlet in class we discussed the idea of the fool revealing truth and that there is often times truth in madness. This theme can be seen at the end of chapter three when one of the veterans who is supposed to be crazy reveals the truth about the nature of the relationship between Mr. Norton and the narrator. The veteran tells them that Mr. Norton sees his students as a “scorecard” or an “achievement” and that he doesn’t actually care about his individual students. On the other hand, the narrator and the other students view Mr. Norton as “not a man to him, but a God” and that they look up to him. The veteran also recognizes that Mr. Norton and the narrator are invisible and blind to each other. 

Poem analysis of "The Death of a Soldier" by Wallace Stevens

‘The Death of a Soldier’

Life contracts and death is expected,
As in a season of autumn.
The soldier falls.

He does not become a three-days’ personage,
Imposing his separation,
Calling for pomp.

Death is absolute and without memorial,
As in a season of autumn,
When the wind stops.

When the wind stops and, over the heavens,
The clouds go, nevertheless,
In their direction.

~Wallace Stevens

Wallace Stevens, in his poem, “Death of a Soldier”, compares death at war to autumn in order to reveal the unconditional and unavoidable nature at which war always results in death.  The poem opens with the line, “Life contracts and death is expected”. Though we try not to always think about it especially if it is our own loved ones at war, we know that someone will die on the battlefield. This creates a dreary description of war which isn’t place where soldiers prove their glory, but a graveyard of fallen men. Stevens metaphorically compares a soldier to the falling leave of a tree. Every autumn, we know that the leaves will fall off of the trees; it is an unavoidable process. Similarly, it is unavoidable for men to die at war. Also, each individual leaf is insignificant in relation to the whole tree as a whole just like each soldier is only pawn to the countries at war. Additionally, after the current leaves fall off the tree in the autumn, new leaves will begin to grow in the spring and replace the old ones; when men die in battle, the military replaces them with fresh soldiers. However despite that a soldier risks his life while he is fighting on the battlefield, he does not become a “personage”; as an individual he doesn’t have much significance to the war and thus he doesn’t gain any rank or distinction.  War is shown to be high risk but low reward. While a soldier commits to a very sacred duty and puts his life on the line, he will often be unrewarded for actions. Maybe being called ruthless or a killer by the very people he is defending. In fact his accomplishments do not warrant a “calling for pomp”, or a formal ceremony of dignity and importance which suggests that being a soldier isn’t something that others look up at. The first line of the third stanza, “Death is absolute and without memorial” suggests that a soldier is forgotten when he dies. He is but a speck in history in respect to all the other millions of soldiers who have died and will die in the future. Unlike some presidents or inventors who have something to leave behind so that they will be remembered in history even in death, a soldier has nothing to leave behind. Also, because death is “absolute”, there is no coming back to life when someone dies. Similar to “When the wind stops” in autumn, death is a natural occurrence and you will forget about a soldier’s life just like you would forget about the wind after it stops blowing. Wind may also be a metaphor for the breath of life.  The last stanza further drives home the idea that a soldier’s life is insignificant in the grand scheme of the war because even “When the wind stops” which represents the death of a soldier, “The clouds go” which represents that the war will go on and that individual soldier will be forgotten. 

Or is Hamlet the villain?

Claudius is often believed to be the villain in the play. He does kill King Hamlet and marries his dead brother’s wife. And Hamlet is the hero who wants to nobly find justice for his father and rid Denmark of corruption. However Hamlet can also be interpreted as the villain of the play. Firstly, if we are looking at sheer number, Hamlet kills more people than Claudius; Claudius kills only his brother while Hamlet kills Polonius with his own hands and sends a letter that dooms Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to die. Hamlets motives are also very sinister. He compares Claudius to satyr, a half man and half goat; However the difference between human and beast is that humans are to rationalize and think which makes Hamlet is also beastlike in the sense that he is driven by his emotion of revenge which clouds his rational thought. Also, Hamlet doesn’t simply want justice, he wants violent revenge – the difference being in that justice seeks out rightfulness or lawfulness order to maintain stability while revenge is to exact punishment in a resentful or vindictive spirit. Revenge is what is sought out by the villain while justice is what is sought out by the hero. Hamlet doesn’t want to set things right in Denmark or cure it of corruption; he wants exact harm on Claudius because he feels he was indirectly wronged through the murder of his father. Evidence of this can be seen in Act III Scene iii when Hamlet says “When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage,/Or in th’ incestuous pleasure of his bed”,/ At game a-swearing, or about some act/ That has no relish of salvation in’t-/Then trip him, that his heels may kick at Heaven,/And that his soul may be damned and black/As Hell, whereto it goes” which reveals that Hamlet doesn’t want to kill Claudius, he wants to kill Claudius while he is partaking in a sinful and act so that Claudius can be sent to hell and suffer eternally.  At this point Hamlet isn’t simply in a fit of rage, he is calculated and is planning how he will kill Claudius; he appears psychopathic. Even when Hamlet accidently kills Polonius he shows no remorse; after Hamlet kills Polonius Gertrude exclaims, “Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!” in which Hamlet wittingly replies, “A bloody deed? Almost bad, good mother,/ As kill a king and marry with his brother” which suggests that Hamlet is not concerned with outcomes of his actions or the effect it might have on others but is only concerned with getting revenge on Claudius. Hamlet writes a new letter to England so that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern will be murdered. Depending on your interpretation of the play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern could be perceived as being uninformed about what was in the original letter.  This means that by killing them, Hamlet could have killed two innocent men. In the end, many people around Hamlet get hurt but if Hamlet truly is the villain to whom killing Claudius is paramount, that shouldn’t matter too much to him.  

Hamlet as the fool

          Your interpretation of Hamlet changes depending on how you interpret Hamlet's role in the play. One valid reading of the play is Hamlet as the fool. Throughout the play Hamlet embodies many different definitions of what a fool is. One definition of a fool is someone who lacks sense of judgment. By this definition, Hamlet is fool when he allows his emotions to dictate his action rather than rational thought or decision making. Hamlet is seen like this in the beginning of the play when he first encounters the ghost of his father. Hamlet had been suspicious of his mother and Claudius because they were quickly able to overcome the sorrow of King Hamlet’s death. When the ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius murdered Hamlet’s father, it enrages him. Hamlet makes a vows to avenge this father, “I’ll wipe away all trivial, fond records,/ all saw of books, all forms, all pressure past/ That youth and observation copied there,/ And thy commandment all alone shall live/ Within the book and volume of my brain,/ unmixed with baser matter”. In this state Hamlet is ruled by his emotions; he isn’t thinking of the implications that killing Claudius could have. He simply wants to rid the nation of what he perceives at the corruption in Denmark.  Hamlet is also a fool(lacking judgment or sense) when he stabs Polonius. Driven by heightened emotions, Hamlet stabs and kills him thinking that Polonius is Claudius. Hamlet envies Horatio because he is able to properly balance his emotions and his judgments, “ And blessed are those/ Whose blood and judgment are so well commedled/ That they are not pipe for Fortune’s finger/ To sound what stop she please”. These scenes where Hamlet lacks judgment contrasts Hamlet in the rest of the play when he is very calculated; He doesn’t immediately try to kill Claudius because he wants to prove that Claudius is guilty which shows that he is calculated yet he stabs at the figure hiding in the curtains before he know who it is which demonstrates his impulsiveness.

          Another definition of a fool is someone who subverts convention in order to bring about change or reveal truth. Hamlet fits this description in many ways; his goal throughout the play is to kill Claudius to not only avenge his father, but to rid the state of corruption. In doing so he would be able to bring about change by altering who is in leadership. While everyone one else openly obeys Claudius  or are manipulated by him, Hamlet chooses to appear to be mad and plans Claudius’s demise. It is ironic however that from the time he meets the ghost of his father he is bent killing Claudius; but by the time he kills him it is too late because Hamlet is already dead (he was already hit by the poison saber) and England had already began to attack Denmark.  The death of Claudius and the infiltration of England represents a new beginning and the change that Hamlet died for.