"Beauty" and "Battle Royal"

Paper Summary:

The following paper examines and discusses the main differences between Walker"s and Ellison's stories. In "Beauty," Walker's tormentors were small children who really had no power over her except the power she gave them, however Ellison's tormentors, who were white men, thought they had permanent power, an illusion Ellison chose to let them have to get what he wanted, when their power was actually temporary.

From the Paper:

"While Walker's story is sketchy, told with a minimum of details, as though she still can't bear to revisit all those years, Ellison is bold, with every blow and humiliation carefully noted.While Walker's story only contains a few references to white people (one being that a white man refused to take her to the doctor), Ellison's whole story is about his experience with white men.Walker begins life as a normal, happy child, one of eight children. As children tend to be, she is self-assured of her beauty and her father's love. This is borne out when he chooses her to go to the fair with him, riding in a car owned by the white woman he works for. Her outfit, all ribbons and frills, is carefully noted, as though the outfit somehow shapes or at least adds to her own sense of her beauty. All through the story, at each step of the way, clothing is described, letting the reader see where Walker is at each stage of her life. At age six she carefully tells us that she's in a scallop and rose outfit for her Easter speech, and she says, "I can tell they admire my dress."

More papers on "Beauty" and "Battle Royal":

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• Analytical Essay # 130769 : "Treason and "Battle Royale"
• Analytical Essay # 140690 : "Symbolism in "Battle Royal"

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