2. What role does isolation play in the short story "Battle Royal" by Ralph Ellison? How does isolation affect the narrator?

ENC 1102

Summer B 2020

Professor C. McCormick

Literary Analysis Essay Requirements

Due Dates: July 30th, 2020

Your Literary Analysis Essay should meet all these basic requirements:

• Paper must conform to MLA format

• Your essay should be 3-4 pages long

• Any and all ideas represented in your paper must be original and/or properly documented

• Provide textual evidence for your claims

Directions: Read Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal,” (pg. 223). Upon reading and annotating the text, choose the

question below that you can answer best.

1. In Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal,” what is the relationship between individual identity and community

identity? Is it possible to remain true to both? Must the two always conflict?

2. What role does isolation play in the short story "Battle Royal" by Ralph Ellison? How does isolation

affect the narrator?

3. In "Battle Royal" by Ralph Ellison, what does the dancer represent? What's tattooed on her belly and

why are they afraid to look? In what ways is the men's treatment of the dancer analogous to their

treatment of the boys?

4. In Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal,” how does the division between how the narrator perceives himself

and how others perceive him relate to the motifs of blindness and invisibility?