Writer on the left: Class and race in Ellison's early fiction

"The Black Ball" is a subtle story that, except for its militant trade union viewpoint, prefigures many of the elements of the later Ellison. The story opens with the narrator interrupting his morning schedule to give his son breakfast. Their conversation reveals both the boy's attempt to start making sense of American race relations and his father's attempt to assert an optimistic hope. When the boy asks, "Daddy, am I black?" and is told that he is brown, the boy suggests, "Brown is much nicer than white, isn't it, Daddy?" His father replies, "Some people think so. But American is better than both, son" (Ellison 1996, 110-11).This assertion of an American faith despite considerable evidence to the contrary suggests both his wish to protect his young son from the harshness of American life and his attempt to believe in the dream of America-also indicated by his studying and desire to return to school despite the pressure of responsibilities.

But the narrator of "The Black Ball" is anything but a naive believer in American justice. The story's central incident is his encounter with a Southern white union organizer. Thinking the white man is seeking information in order to demand his job (several unemployed whites have recently taken jobs from black workers in the neighborhood), the narrator distrusts him and lies about the number of blacks working in the building. When he learns that the man is organizing a union of custodial workers, he responds: "Listen, fellow.You're wasting your time and mine.Your damn unions are like everything else in the country-for whites only.What ever caused you to give a damn about a Negro anyway?" (Ellison, 1996, 114). However, the organizer replies by showing his burned hands and telling the story of how they were burned with a gasoline torch after he testified in defense of a black man accused of rape. Although not killed, the white organizer has also been the victim of a lynch mob, and the incident has led him to become more committed in his efforts. The narrator doesn't know what to say in response to this terrible story (he is still uncertain that the white man is telling the truth), and the organizer tells him not to try to figure it out all at once, and leaves a card inviting him to a meeting.5

The events of the rest of the day cause the narrator to be glad, at the story's end, that he still has the card in his pocket, for he is faced with dismissal (the black ball) after his son's ball is thrown (by an older white boy) through his boss's office window. It is concern for the boy, who has begun to notice racial difference, which gradually motivates him to accept the organizer's offer. The young boy remarks that he could someday drive a truck, as he has noticed a black man driving one. His father says nothing, but only stares into space, thinking, and when they return from being confronted by his angry employer, the narrator is shaken: "I gave him one hard look and then felt for the boy's hand to take him back to the quarters. I had a hard time seeing as we walked back, and scratched myself by stumbling into the evergreens as we walked around the building" (Ellison, 1996, 120).While the narrator puts iodine on his hand, which he discovers is bleeding, it is the boy's confusion that suggests a deeper wound. The boy says: "Daddy, that white man can't see very good, can he .... Anybody can see my ball is white" (121). The father thinks to himself how his son will eventually play with "the black ball" more than the boy suspects.While treating the minor injury to his own hand, he thinks of the organizer's fried hands, and it is clear that he will use the organizer's card.