Even When You're A "Winner", You're A "Loser".

Ralph Ellison short story, “Battle Royal”, demonstrates blacks being oppressed by whites and the struggles they go through in order to prove themselves “worthy”. The story is told through a nameless, young African American boy who is having a dream, although he does not know that at the time, of being kidnapped and cage by white men and brought to this ring to fight other young African boys his age. In the story all of the boys are blindfolded and they are the entertainment for the whites who watch them battle one another. The boy having to fight his own race in order to win this game is very symbolic, blacks who want success are going to have to “battle” one another because the whites do not want the Africans as a race to succeed. I related this story to the movie, “Death Race” by Paul Bartel. “Death Race” is about a man is was once a race car driver is set up by the warden of a prison is order to have him serve as more than just an inmate. The warden is having a select few of the inmates race each other and in return the winner gets their freedom. She broadcast it on a website and the more people subscribe the more money she gets. She makes the races very entertaining by making the racetrack deadly. The winner of a race is not only the fastest but is also the only one that physically survived. I related the stories because both are dealing with superior vs. subordinate. In “Battle Royal” the whites are superior to the blacks and in “Death Race” the law enforcement of the prison are superior to the inmates that occupy it. In both stories the subordinates are forced against one another through battling and racing for freedom but also serve as amusement for the superior. Just like in “Death Race” no matter how many races they win the warden has no intention of letting them free and in “Battle Royal” the whites will never consider the winner to be worthy enough to consider them as an equal.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNZojlqhxWk