Date sent: Sat, 27 Apr 1996 14:47:05 -0500 Hawes 1 Professor Gray English 1302.004 4 March 1996 An Icon: The Bingo King Ralph Waldo Ellison provides us with a quite literal black-and-white opposite of the American ideal presented by the white authors in the 1950's. African-Americans were reliant on white America for a cultural and material identity because of their forced arrival to this new land. Ellison's title character in his short story "King of the Bingo Game" acts as a post-modern icon to the mockery of their seemingly hopeless destinies. Ellison's story is of a poor African-American man who achieves hope and, more importantly financial independence, or hopes to, through a bingo game. He is drawn to the game by hopelessness, despair, and a need to pay for an operation for his beloved Laura. The Bingo King's world is filled with suspicion and distrust of the system that surrounds him. We glimpse this view from the experiences in his everyday life, from the movie to the bingo game. The experiences of the Bingo King shape his characteristics that are important to the story. Mostly the main characteristics of the Bingo King are his hopeless dispair from losing his dreams, disillusions by the American ideal, and the feeling of having no control of his destiny. Hawes 2 As Ellison's story continues, the Bingo King proceeds to win the contest that he had for weeks attended. At this point, he feels happy, but nervous from disbelief. By definition, he cannot be successful in the "white" world. For his advancement in this world, he must step free of the past, remove himself from the audience, the masses. When the Bingo King has won his place on stage, he notices that he has now broken through the barrier of his past disappointment, "knowing the ritual from the many days and nights he had watched the winners march across the stage to press the button that controlled the spinning wheel and receive the prizes. And now he followed the instructions as though he'd crossed the slippery stage a million prize-winning times." (684) It seems from that passage that the Bingo King had been waiting for his opportunity as did many African Americans of that time. Ellison uses the word "slippery" to describe their respective paths to attain happiness and success. Slippery not only me Hawes 3 There is an American ideal that states if you follow the morals that are formed by the white people and the society it makes up, then you will succeed. Ellison's story rebels against, even mocks this thinking. The black man were left out of this general formula for success. It is hard to think that a man would have so little faith in his society and himself that he would base all his wants, desires, and hopes on a bingo game is absurd, but his descent into insanity is sadly taken to heart, "He watched the wheel whirling past the numbers and experienced a burst of exaltation: This is God! This is really truly God! He said it aloud, "This is God!" (685) "He would keep the wheel whirling forever, and Laura would be safe in the Wheel." (686) The Bingo King's insanity is so realized that he is actually dragged away by the police men in uniform. Ellison's black man has been driven insane by the inescapable injustice and hopelessness of his situation. So disillusioned with the American experience made the masses of blacks believe that the bingo wheel is their sal vation. Another major characteristic of the Bingo King is that he has no control over his destiny at all. He has been degraded by whites through out his life, proving to himself that he has no control in life. Some examples are when the man with the microphone talked down to him when he was spinning the bingo wheel and the crowd started calling him a jerk, yelling get off the stage. He ignored these distractions and went on spinning the wheel with the little button. He thinks that if he holds on to the button he can save Laura. He was forced to stop spinning the bingo wheel when the police came and beat Hawes 4 him down and took away the button. In this process he made the people in his own race feel, "ashamed because he was black like them. ... Well, let them be ashamed for something this time. Like him."(685) He could not control what people thought of him, nor how they treated him. He could not control the fact he could not save his love, Laura. He could not get a job because he had no birth certificate, thus he could not get a job to get money. Without money he had to play bingo to get money. He feels like the "Bingo King", but people don't beat down the king, nor do they make fun of him with chants. This proves that he is just a black man with no control on his destiny. He ends up dying from his quest for the happiness promised to men in this country. The protagonist of The Bingo King by Ralph Ellison is a fictional character that was created to portray the thoughts and feelings on African Americans in the 1950's. The Bingo King, as he describes himself, is a poor man that is down and out in life. The title character of "King of the Bingo Game" is a poor black man who has had a very hard life. He is down and a woman he loves, Laura, (maybe his wife, but we are not sure because it is not revealed) needs medical attention. He cannot help her because he has no money. So he repeatedly tries to win at bingo. This entire story helps to make up the major characteristics of the bingo king. He is drawn to the game by hopelessness, despair, and a need to pay for an operation for his beloved Laura. The Bingo King's world is filled with suspicion and distrust of the system that surrounds him. These are not only the feelings of the Bingo King, but African Americans in general.