His father died in an industrial accident when he was a young boy, so his mother took him and his brother to Gary, Indiana, where she thought they would find better opportunities. I laughed at myself for becoming alarmed and decided not to punish him, even though Berry had given instructions that he was not to be seen out in the front without me. Just like when James sees white boys in Boy on a Train, this shows how racism deprives Black children of the innocence and playfulness that all children deserve. Written by people who wish to remain anonymous John John is the main character and protagonist of Ellison's short story. On the other hand, he also wants to protect his son from white people, which means teaching him to tolerate segregation and avoid confrontation. You know, Daddy.` Ellison uses . Indeed, Johns sense of disappointment and heartbreak is obvious when he has to tell his son to play alone in the back, instead of with the other children, just for his safety. `Whats the matter son?` After a white, Instant downloads of all 1725 LitChart PDFs This is not entirely unjustified because a biographical overview . He pessimism about his sons future is tempered by the union card in his pocket and the last words are ones of greater optimism Maybe there was a color other than white on the old ball.. `I guess Daddy was just looking out on the world.`. James remembers his caring, attentive, intellectual father (Daddy), who has recently passed away. `Aw, Daddy, youre kidding. He didnt answer then, but when I came out of the bathroom, he seemed more inclined to talk. He was learning the rules of the game already, but he didnt know it. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. This was largely because it enabled them to work alongside white people (whom people in power take more seriously). Similarly, hisrelationship with Mrs.Johnson(who is good to his boy) and thenewly forged relationship with the Union manwhich rests on a common cause goes on to show that one needs support of well-wishers to sustain oneself in a wholesome manner. He ran down the stairs, and soon I could hear the bump bump bump of his ball bouncing against the garage doors underneath. The inclusion of the four-year-old son especially brings to light just how cruelly persisting and unjust the society is. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account. But in the rest of this story, Ellison will test and challenge that assumption. I stopped to look at him. She says she remembers passing the same silo when she and Daddy first migrated from the South to Oklahoma City to seek a better life. He is the only Black employee at the apartment building where he works, and he is often treated unfairly by his white coworkers and supervisors. When John replies, But American is better than both, son.he is subtlyenforcing in his son the understanding that colordoes not decide a persons character. The narrator of the story is presumably a black man. He does not want his son to grow up basing hisidentityon his color, but rather toform an identity as a good citizen. Complete your free account to request a guide. Here, we see the physical ball and the endless game of racial discrimination come together in an instance where theliteral and the figurative fuse into one another. Mother is never mentioned; John seems to be bringing the boy up on his own, while working hard, up at six to do his mopping sweeping and dusting and emptying the trash before returning to give breakfast to his son. The Black Ball Symbols Next Trains Trains "Boy on a Train" and "Hymie's Bull" are both set primarily on moving trains, which represent a core but elusive American ideal: the promise that migration can bring freedom and a better life. The way the content is organized, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. But the organizers scars indicate that some white people are willing to accept the risks involved in confronting this violence and choosing solidarity over racism. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. `Mean how, son?` You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes. Refine any search. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Unions dont want Negro members.`, `You mean some unions dont. In this final scene, the game becomes a metaphor for the precautions, codes, and tactics that Black people must learn to use in order to survive under Jim Crow. Needless to say, Berry would not approve of his employees joining a union. First it was the croppers, and when they got to know me and made it too hot, I quit the country and came to town. You always kid, dont you, Daddy?` Parker watches the barmaid pour a glass of beer and a . Usually his face was reflected there. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. The fact that Mr. Berry doesnt like the damned educated niggerreflects not only the prevalent discrimination but also the hostility towards possible modes (education in this case) by which people of color may better their station in life. I didnt know what to say to that. Broadly, "The Black Ball" tells the story of one man's attempt to build an integrated union in the American South directly after the U.S. Civil War, which was fought primarily because of racism and the desire to maintain the institution of slavery. `Sure it is. `About a black ball. A boy that size will make you do that. `Daddy, what did that man mean?` But actually, the stranger is an organizer with a local union. The horses also represent the resilience and strength of the human spirit in the face of adversity. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. `Your ball is white.` Mostly white, anyway, I thought. Johns conversation with the union organizer opens new possibilities and dangers for him; it also gives a new meaning to his relationship with his son. (This move is no doubt the inspiration for the first story in. He was looking down at his outstretched hands as he talked. But Id begin telling him the rules later.. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. The Black Ball, a short story written in the first-person narrative, focusses on an African-American father as he raises his four-year-old son in a racist society. This line becomes significant when one compares it to what he has to say in the end: Indeed, poor little rascal, he would play until he grew sick of playing. In the story, it seems like it's just a straight forward story but if you take a real close look at it you can see that there is a message within the story. This is what John tells his son as he tries to explain him Mr. Berrys warning: `He meant, son, that if your ball landed in his office again, Daddy would go after it behindthe old black ball.. (Racism helps it achieve those goals by making it easy and socially permissible to exploit Black people like John.) I must have looked queer. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. `Yes,` I said, looking not at his hands but at the color draining from his face. Mama prays for God to help her family survive the hardship they will encounter. He wishes that Black Americans could find the same kind of national pride and unity that the Welsh seem to have. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Symbolizing power, the car is a key element in these chapters. The story opens in a pub, where a Welshman named Mr. Catti brings Parker a drink. When I got downstairs the boy was not there. But the narrator narrowly escaped. It burned when he put iodine on it. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. The Story "The Black Ball" written by Ralph Ellison is about a man named John, born around the civil war that goes through difficulties and challenges in his life him being an African American. such views are in the society, to the point where these words come naturally in conversation. There were many wrinkles around his eyes, and I had to smile in return. `Yes, son.` There is still a barrier, though, as John challenges the man: What ever caused, to give a damn about a Negro anyway? There is the anger of years of oppression in Johns question, but the mans answer is shocking and provides another insight into the violent racial history of the United States. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. It is set over the course of a single day in the life of a black single father named John. Interestingly, he is reading Malrauxs novel Mans Fate, recently published, about an attempted workers revolution in China. Both stories' read analysis of Trains The White and Black Balls There were two others. The nurse forbids the other children from playing with Jackie, so he pulls his toy back into the garage, quietly stealing a flower from the bush. But Id begin telling him the rules later. He invites John to an upcoming union meeting and leaves. The ball also represents the way that racism and segregation can limit the opportunities and choices available to Black people. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. This racism has been so ingrained in society that it has beeninternalized by the oppressed themselves. I asked if they had seen a little Negro boy, but they said they hadnt. `No thanks,` I said. Autobiographical Context. Now get him on round to the back and then come up here and clean up this mess hes made.`. `You know, Daddy. `Yes, and then I can wear a lot of buttons on my cap like the men that bring the meat to the grocery. Contains racial slurs, and references to racial motivated assault and sexual assault, among other issues. This line foreshadows the event when the same Berry,like the wicked queen of the story which the boy liked so well, will label his identity with a racial slur. One such instance is when Mr. Berry gazes into the brass before entering his office: He stood gazing into the brass like the wicked queen into her looking glass in the story which the boy liked so well. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. `Yes.` John seems to struggle through life. The way the content is organized, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in, From six to eight in the morning, a Black man named. In "Boy on a Train," the segregation of trains and the fact that James and his family have to sit in the cramped, uncomfortable luggage compartment at the back of the train represent the ways in which Black people were treated as second-class citizens and denied equal access to public spaces. But he couldnt find the ball; I would have to find it for him. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. The Black Ball is a posthumous collection of four little-known short stories from the early career of renowned African American novelist Ralph Ellison. PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. The segregation between races is observed later by John from his window and is a poignant example of the division enforced by both sides. This is in reference to the stereotypes about African-Americans, and the way they are feared by the white people. Who threw it, son? In "The Black Ball" by Ralph Ellison uses metaphors and allegories and characterization to show how racism and discrimination affect people in their way of being and thinking. Both texts explore the violence meted out to African-Americans in the name of justice and of course this is the context for Johns initial distrust of the man who questions him on the steps of the building. I had a hard time seeing as we walked back, and scratched myself by stumbling into the evergreens as we went around the building. These concept words help to reveal the nature of the debate over slavery. A little more from this guy andI would see red. The title story, The Black Ball, focuses on one day in the life of a Black single father named John, who works as a janitor at a ritzy apartment building somewhere in the American southwest. This is a promising alternative to his current plan: to work hard and hope that his boss shows him mercy. He relates it to thephysical toy balland wonders why one would call it black when it is more of a white one. Even innocent playing children are segregated. They made them scars with a gasoline torch and run me out the county cause they said I tried to help a nigger make a white woman out a lie. He also realizes that white people have never treated him so well in his whole life, and he wishes he didnt have to return home to the U.S. Not used to anything like that, are you?`. Open Document. They two walk home in silence. I could see em plain.`. He was very thoughtful sitting there in his high chair and paused several times with his spoon midway to his mouth to watch me as I chewed my toast. Ellison published two books of essays Shadow Act in the 1960s and Going to the Territory in the 1980sEllison spent his later decades laboring on a vast novel, which he never finished. `Listen,` he said. The Black Ball Characters by Ralph Ellison The Black Ball Character List These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. I called, but no answer. I had rushed through the early part of the day mopping the lobby, placing fresh sand in the tall green jars, sweeping and dusting the halls, and emptying the trash to be burned later on in the day into the incinerator. While narrated in the first person by an African-American caretaker, it is perhaps his son who is the central character of the story.