Symbolism

As the protagonist and the nine other African-Americans come together to get ready for the Battle Royal, their mouths drop when they come into contact with a nude, blonde-haired lady who gave the narrator "a blast of cold air" (19). She is surrounded by a plethora of drunken white men who can not keep their hands off of her. The woman is being tossed around so much as if she were an object, especially when it is said her "hair was yellow like that of a circus kewpie doll" (19). Ellison uses the "doll" as a symbol to make it clear that the men are in control of the woman. A doll is kept on strings and controlled by the person in charge, which in this case, is all of the white males. The doll portrays a sense of powerlessness which is exactly what Ellison wanted to depict. Not only are the African-American younger boys being blinded by the white men and under their control, but this white lady is as well. The author wanted to show in this time period it was not only black's, but females as well who were treated as objects. When the narrator was describing the lady for the first time he even mentioned her face "in the form of an abstract mask" (19), showing how ashamed the lady is but must look past that and conform to what the white men want. The woman herself is in fact hidden from all the makeup which is her "mask." Not only does the doll symbolize the powerlessness being held, but also the "yellow" hair color symbolizes a sense of enlightenment that carries throughout the novel.