Permeated with human tragedy. Ever since the first slave boat reached the shore’s of America, a deep affliction to the African race transpired. Generations upon generations were ravished by the rapacity of there captors. Kept enchained and illiterate for hundreds of years, the idea of Blacks as the Untermensch in American society was milled into the American psyche, the remnant of which still till today remains. Untermensch, a German word, meaning sub person has often been used to describe the African status compared to that of their white counterparts. In the short stories “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara and “Battle Royal” by Ralph Ellison, the authors use the idea of race determining the social structure in America where Black’s are the Untermensch.
In the short story “The Lesson”, Bambara through fictional characters makes a serious social commentary. The story portrays a poor black neighborhood, where the narrator is poor little black girl who along with her friends is being thought at home by this old black lady named Ms. Moore. She despises Ms. Moore for dressing and talking proper and most importantly for making her come to study during the hot summer months.
Sylvia (the narrator) a rough street kid is brought along with her street friends by Ms. Moore to a ritzy toy shop (FAO SCHWARZ) where she and her friends are shown toys which can feed them for years. Sylvia along with her friends questions how people could such ridiculous amount of money on toys, to which one of the kids replies “that this is not much of a democracy if you ask me. Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough don’t it?” (164).
That quote basically summarized the lesson, which Ms. Moore was trying to tell her kids. Sylvia and her friends were content with the “piece of pie” (163) they had received, Ms. Moore tried to point out how small it was and how it could change.
The next short which in actuality is an part of the novel “The Invisible Man”, is “Battle Royal” written by Ralph Ellison which also question the Blacks as the Untermensch. Much of the story contains a lot of symbolic text, which is what makes the reading so intriguing. At face value, its an story of a black H. S.
graduate who makes an speech in front of an rowdy crowd after he has fought 10 other man in the ring, but in reality the story is saturated with massive symbolism.