The Black Ball

Summary;

The story starts with the narrator, John- a black man living with his son in the American
Southwest side. As he works, his son asks him “Am I black?”, as that’s what one of his friends
had told him. John replies that he is not black, but brown- and either way, it is most important to
be American. He then carries on with his job, taking extra time to polish the brass because of
how important it is to his manager, Berry. While doing his work, he notices a “fellow” watching
him, slowly approaching him to start a conversation.

The stranger, a man heading a local labor union, asks about John’s job, immediately putting him
on edge. He’s worried his job might be stolen, and continues to answer curtly, attempting to hide
his annoyance. The Union man then offers John a position at his union- John is incredulous, for
unions do not usually recruit African-Americans. This stirs The Union man, who reveals his
hands to show scars all over them. He tells John about his black friend who had been wrongly
accused of raping a woman- despite the fact that the friend and The Union man were shopping
together fifty miles away at the time. The friend was lynched and his house was burnt down, and
The Union man’s hands were injured when the mob set it on fire with gasoline for siding with a
black man over a white woman. He then hands John a card, telling him the meeting will start at
8pm sharp, and just as swiftly, he disappears.

That evening, when John goes back home, his son eagerly shows him his toy truck and talks
about wanting to be a truck driver. But John is not able to concentrate, his mind filled with
thoughts. He sits on the sofa and looks out the window, watching the children play while the
nurse watches over them. One of the children, Jackie, is the gardener’s son who had earlier told
John’s boy that he is “too black“. The nurse forbids the other children from playing with Jackie,
so he pulls his toy back into the garage, quietly stealing a flower from the bush. John’s son joins
him at the window, too, asking if he can go out to play with his ball.

John allows his son, telling him to keep away from the other kids, not go out and not ask too
many questions. However, after some time when he goes out to water the lawn, John cannot
find him. He searches everywhere to no avail- but just as he sits down, defeated, his son’s
crying face appears in front of him, telling him that a big white boy took his black ball and threw
it up into a window. Unfortunately, that window is the manager’s- Mr. Berry’s. Mr. Berry refuses
to hear any explanation and shouts at both father and son for the damage of his plant, saying
“One more time and you’ll find yourself behind the black ball.”

They two walk home in silence. The evergreen cuts John’s hands. His son is still crying, but
after washing his face and steeling himself, he asks his father what Mr. Berry meant by “black
ball” since his ball is more white than black. He did not understand the larger meaning in the
adult’s words. He innocently asks his father whether he will ever play with a black ball, and John
thinks that he already is, that he is already learning the unpleasant rules of the game. When his
hand stings from the cut, he remembers The Union man’s fried hands. He feels in his pocket for
the business card and thinks there may be some hope after all.
Ellison approaches the theme of racism and struggle in The Black Ball through an interaction-based

first-person narrative. The inclusion of the four-year-old son especially brings to light just how

cruelly persisting and unjust the society is. It goes on to demonstrate the generational nature of racial
discrimination is highlighted in the story. Even an innocent child is subject to unfair treatment as

though it is normal, at an age so young that he cannot even understand it.

Ellison blends dialogue and description, and uses situations and conversation to emphasize key

elements in the piece. The title “Black Ball” is materialized through the son’s toy, creating an

interesting metaphor-to-object representation.

Further, the importance given to the son’s viewpoint is a very clever addition, as it showcases the

different perspectives of the same situation- how an inquisitive child understands his world as

compared to how his weathered, unfortunately accustomed father deals with it. It presents a ray of

hope, but at the same time a tinge of sadness is registered as we realize that the son’s bright naivety

will soon fade as he experiences more and more prejudice

Analysis by story parts; Analysis;

John struggles to balance work and family

as a single Black parent living under Jim
1. From six to eight in the Crow. Between his work ethic and his
morning, a Black man named comment about what it means to be
John cleans the lobby and American, he appears to believe that
takes out the trash at the working hard to win white people’s trust
apartment building where he provides his best chances of advancement
works as a janitor. Then, he in a racist society. But in the rest of this
rushes back to his quarters story, Ellison will test and challenge that
above the garage to have assumption.
breakfast with his four-year-
old son. His son asks, In the very beginning, the son asks, “Daddy,
“Daddy, am I black?” No,
John responds: he’s brown. am I black?” because another child had
John’s son complains that his
friend Jackie made fun of him pointed it out to him. This highlights just how
for being Black, but he
remarks that “Brown’s much prevalent the issue of color is in the society,
nicer than white.” John
replies that “American is with children as young as four years old
better than both.”
having such discussions. When John replies, John’s internal monologue shows why he
believes so deeply in hard work. It’s not
“But American is better than both, son.” he is because he denies the reality of racism or
hopes that, if he works hard enough, white
subtly enforcing in his son the understanding people will eventually see him as their
equal. Instead, it’s because he has so little
that color does not decide a person’s character. hope—he thinks that he's powerless to
improve his working conditions, so hard
In the end, they are all from the same country. work is his only alternative to
unemployment.
He does not want his son to grow up basing
While working, John mentions that he has to
his identity on his color, but rather to form an be careful because “two fellows had already
been dismissed because whites wanted their
identity as a good citizen. This is in reference jobs.” This makes it clear that no black man’s
position was stable– the white men were
to the stereotypes about African-Americans, always given the first preference, African-
Americans never knew when they might lose
and the way they are feared by the white their job.

people. John wants his son to know that the Themes;

stereotypes do not make his character. Race, nation and belonging.

Politics and solidarity
Themes;

Race, nation and belonging. 3. The white stranger asks how long
Politics and solidarity John has been working at the
Childhood innocence. building. Two months, John replies.
The stranger asks if other Black
people work there, too, and John
says no (which is a lie). Furious,
2. After breakfast, John leaves his son John privately wonders why the man
to play and rushes back to the lobby, doesn’t just go ask for his job.
where he dutifully polishes the brass Instead, the man offers John some
front door. A red-faced white tobacco; John declines. The man
stranger stops on the sidewalk and chuckles and smiles, then he
watches him work. John keeps the comments that John probably isn’t
brass flawless in order to please Mr. used to white men offering him
Berry, the building manager, who “something besides a rope.” John
cares about nothing more than the forces a smile back.
brass and his plants. John is worried Analysis;
because the building just replaced
two Black workers when white
John’s thought process shows how
people demanded their jobs. And
precarious his situation truly is. His manager
John needs to pay for his son’s
is so committed to racial hierarchy that he
education.
fires his Black employees as soon as any
Analysis;
white man asks for their job. The white
man’s joke about the rope, which is a
reference to lynching, might appear to be in
bad taste. But actually, he’s trying to show When the man offers him a position in his
that he understands the Jim Crow system
and knows why John would be so distrustful union, John responds with anger and
of white people, and This highlights how
ingrained such views are in the society, to the frustration. It is only when the man shows his
point where these words come naturally in
conversation. scarred hands and narrates the story behind it

When a strange “fellow” walks up to him to that John becomes more receptive to his idea.
start a conversation, John’s first expectation is
that he wants the job- and he fears it, too, The Union man’s burned hands are a very
because the man is white. When the man
offers him a position in his union, John symbolic part of the story. And his
responds with anger and frustration. It is only
when the man shows his scarred hands and recollection of the incident with his friend is
narrates the story behind it that John becomes
more receptive to his idea. heart-breaking, because an innocent man had

been blamed for no fault of his. This goes to

Themes;
show that African-American community have
Racial violence and injustice
Race, nation and belonging. been excluded from society– if someone
Politics and solidarity
supports them, that person will be ostracized
4. The white man explains that he as well.
works for a labor union and wants to
help organize apartment building The union organizer’s proposal challenges
workers in the area so that they can John’s assumption that Black and white
get better pay and working people’s economic interests are always
conditions. But John doesn’t believe opposed. Instead, it suggests that John can
a white man would help Black improve his working conditions through
people, and he has heard that solidarity—or interracial cooperation in the
unions are “for whites only.” The service of shared goals. This is a promising
white man shows John his hands, alternative to his current plan: to work hard
which are covered in burn scars. He and hope that his boss shows him mercy.
explains that he defended a Black The organizer’s story about Alabama
friend against trumped-up rape underlines why John is so suspicious of
charges back home in Alabama, and white people: under Jim Crow, Black people
a white mob attacked him and face a constant atmosphere of racist threat
lynched his friend. He has been and violence. But the organizer’s scars
working for the union ever since. indicate that some white people are willing
John still isn’t sure whether the man to accept the risks involved in confronting
is telling the truth. The man gives this violence and choosing solidarity over
John a card with an invitation to an racism.
upcoming union meeting, then he
limps away.
Themes;
Analysis;
Racial violence and injustice meaning to his relationship with his son. If
Race, nation and belonging. John chooses to join the union and fight for
Politics and solidarity better working conditions, he can also
shape the world his son comes of age and
5. The dapper Mr. Berry comes to the works in. John’s son’s dream of being a
building, looks at the brass door, and greets truck driver highlights this: truck driving has
John. He asks if the other white man long been heavily unionized, and John’s
wanted to talk to him, but John says no— son’s story about the Black deliveryman
the man was just looking to buy clothes. indicates that the union might accept Black
John’s shift is over, so he heads back to his people.
quarters.
Themes;
analysis;
Politics and solidarity
Mr. Berry, the manager, makes the same Childhood innocence
assumption that John did: a white man
would never approach a Black man like 8. From his window, John can see all
John in order to help him. Austere, around the neighborhood. He watches a
controlling, and humorless, Berry represents group of children playing on a nearby lawn,
the values of the American economy, which until one boy approaches them with a
cares only about efficiency and profit. wagon. The nurse who is watching them
(Racism helps it achieve those goals by sends the boy away; he runs off, stealing a
making it easy and socially permissible to flower from a bush on his way. He is Jackie,
exploit Black people like John.) Needless to the gardener’s son, and he is white. John’s
say, Berry would not approve of his son asks what he’s looking at, and John
employees joining a union. replies that he was “just looking out on the
world.” Then, John’s son asks if he can go
Themes; downstairs and play with his ball. John says
yes—after all, he has to go down and water
Politics and solidarity the grass soon. But John tells his son to
Racial violence and injustice stay in the back alley, away from the other
children, and not ask any questions. His son
7. John finds his son playing with a toy runs out and starts bouncing his ball against
truck. He makes his son lunch, then he sits the garage.
in his chair and tries to study—but he’s too
distracted by thoughts about the union Analysis;
organizer. His son calls over and says that
he wants to be a truck driver when he grows The white children are foils for John’s son:
up so that he can wear a hat with buttons on they show how he is (and will be) excluded
it, like the Black man he saw delivering from mainstream American life due to the
meat to the grocery store. John looks at his color line. Just like when James sees white
son awhile, and his son asks what’s wrong. boys in “Boy on a Train,” this shows how
John just says that he’s thinking, and then racism deprives Black children of the
his son goes back to playing with the truck. innocence and playfulness that all children
deserve. Indeed, John’s sense of
Analysis; disappointment and heartbreak is obvious
when he has to tell his son to play alone in
John’s conversation with the union the back, instead of with the other children,
organizer opens new possibilities and just for his safety. Moreover, when Jackie’s
dangers for him; it also gives a new son steals the flower—and faces at most
minor consequences for it—this for Black Americans, who risk violence if
foreshadows the far more severe they cross white people in any way. When
consequences John’s son will face for a far he realizes that his son is probably just
less serious infraction at the end of this playing with the white boys, John is
story. conflicted. On the one hand, he wants his
son to enjoy himself and play, like any child
Ellison writes a beautifully illustrative should be able to. On the other hand, he
paragraph later in the story where John in also wants to protect his son from white
watching the kids play from the window of his people, which means teaching him to
room. It shows children playing together in a tolerate segregation and avoid
group- something John’s own son cannot do. confrontation.
When his son asks whether he can take his
ball to play outside, John says “Don’t ask Themes;
questions and stay away from other kids.” The Race, nation and belonging
reason for this is because it lowers the risk of Childhood innocence
Racial violence and injustice.
the young boy being blamed for something he
did not do. If he stays away, there won’t be
11. Surely enough, when John comes to the
trouble for him. The readers will feel a sense front, he finds his son, who is crying. His
of sorrow here that a child must live with such son says that “a big white boy” took his ball
conditions due to the misconceptions and cruel and threw it into a window. Then, Mr. Berry
discrimination of society comes over. He furiously announces that
John’s son ruined a plant with his ball and
Themes; that he isn’t allowed to play on the front
lawn. He threatens that John will end up
Race, nation and belonging “behind the black ball” if his son plays on
Politics and solidarity the front lawn again. John leads his son
Childhood innocence back to their quarters, but on the way, he
Racial violence and injustice bumps into an evergreen tree and scratches
his hand. Inside, he bandages himself up in
10. John tries to read again but falls asleep the bathroom.
instead. When he wakes up, it’s time to
water the lawn, so he goes downstairs. But analysis;
his son is nowhere to be found. He asks a
group of white boys if they have seen his Mr. Berry’s response to the situation is
son, but they say no; he goes down the obviously unfair, because he punishes
alley to the grocery store, but the workers John’s son for something that he didn’t even
haven’t seen his son either. Worried, he do. But John knows that, as a Black man in
heads back to start watering the lawn. He a deeply racist, unequal society, he has no
realizes that his son might have gone out to option but to accept this injustice and try to
the front lawn. He decides not to punish his avoid more confrontation in the future.
son, even though Mr. Berry has warned him When Berry says that John will be “behind
against letting the boy play in the front the black ball,” he means that he will fire
alone. John if this happens again. “Behind the
black ball” is an earlier version of the phrase
Analysis; “behind the eight-ball,” but it’s also a
reference to blackballing, or blocking
John’s panic at his son’s disappearance someone’s membership in a group. Ellison’s
once again shows how Jim Crow makes early-20th century readers also would have
everyday life dangerous and unpredictable
recognized “black ball” as an anti-Black 12. When John comes out of the bathroom,
racial slur. his son asks him what Mr. Berry meant by
the “black ball.” John explains that he’ll end
When John finally finds his son, he realizes up “behind the old black ball” if his son’s ball
ends up in Mr. Berry’s office. But the boy
that he has experienced the injustice of the comments that his ball is white. John again
looks at his son for some time and then
world. The fellow, the Union man, told the agrees.

story of how his friend was blamed for a crime Analysis;

didn’t commit. John’s son, though on a far Like the tobacco billboards and grain silo in
the first story, the “black ball” means
smaller scale, is also blamed for something he different things to adult and children
characters, and thus shows how they have
different levels of understanding about
didn’t do– something a white boy had done.
American racism. While John’s son is
thinking about the ball he was playing with,
This represents the society’s outlook and John understands its true meaning: Mr.
Berry is going to fire him. Of course, when
treatment towards African-Americans, where John’s son emphasizes that the ball is really
white, not Black, he is also drawing
different people of different ages face the attention to the fact that a white boy really
threw the ball through Mr. Berry’s window,
same discriminatory conduct. and yet he is being punished for it.

This instance also presents the idea of Themes;

apportioning blame to the marginalized groups Racial violence and injustice

Childhood innocence
and finding scapegoats for the fault/crimes
13. John’s son asks if he will eventually get
committed by powerful ones, as can be seen to play with the black ball, and John says
yes. Privately, he remarks that his son is
throughout history. Not only is the boy blamed already “learning the rules of the game” he
will spend most of his life playing, even
for the fault of a white bully, his father is though he doesn’t know it yet. John drags
the hose outside with his cut hand to water
threatened with being fired by another white the lawn, and he remembers the union
organizer’s “fried hands.” He makes sure
bully. Thus, two different generations face the the union meeting invitation is still in his
pocket, then he thinks, “maybe there was a
color other than white on the old ball.”
same racial discrimination in the same
Analysis;
incident of the story.
In this final scene, “the game” becomes a
Themes;
metaphor for the precautions, codes, and
Racial violence and injustice
tactics that Black people must learn to use
Childhood innocence
in order to survive under Jim Crow. While
John recognizes that his son will inevitably largely because it enabled them to work
have to learn these codes in order to alongside white people (whom people in
survive, his decision to join the union also power take more seriously).
shows that he now sees politics as a way
out of “the game.” This is the closest thing Themes;
to an explicit political message in this book:
at least early in his life, Ellison believed that Race, nation and belonging
labor organizing offered Black Americans’ Politics and solidarity
best chances at improving their position and Childhood innocence
winning justice in American life. This was Racial violence and injustice

Overall Themes;

Racism;

Within the short story Black Ball by Ralph Emerson the idea of racial discrimination and prejudice is
amplified by the way that the narrator portrays his life and his views. The blackness is represented in
the story as something to be ashamed of in this story, by including things like his fear of the white
man, the way his son interprets things around him, and his uncertainty in regards to the white man’s
offer. The story really illustrates the prejudice that people of color must face in every facet of life.
When the white man walks up to the narrator and his initial thought was that the white man was a
threat that would take his job, which is a very sad interpretation of another man. The narrators son
also played a part in the portrayal of racial discrimination by the way he interpreted the society
around him, especially with the ball incident. The boy noting the color differences between the balls
and that shows what color means to everyone in society, even the smallest members of society. This
shows a lot about race in the history of America thus far. America has had a stain of racial injustice
since the beginning, and this story illustrates that in both a family sense and in the workplace. The
family issue is a serious one that sometimes get overshadowed over political ones. But the social
racism, that is shown in this story in regards to the young black boy getting in trouble instead of the
young white boy who actual threw the ball and broke the window. I believe that social racism is a
huge problem within the story, and it affects the narrator poorly because of the fact that his son is
being socially taught that he is lesser and untrustworthy simply because of his skin color.

One witnesses the theme of racism early on in the story when the four-year old kid grapples with the

issue of color and race. He has been verbally bullied because of his color. Later on, he will be

physically bullied when the white boy throws his ball inside the window of Berry’s office who says

this to his father:

Well, if I ever see him around here again, you’re going to find yourself behind

the black ball. Now get him on round to the back and then come up here and

clean up this mess he’s made.`

This racism has been so ingrained in society that it has been internalized by the oppressed

themselves. This is what John tells his son as he tries to explain him Mr. Berry’s warning:

`He meant, son, that if your ball landed in his office again, Daddy would go

after it behind the old black ball.”

Though the ball is more of a white color, as reminded by his son, John unwittingly uses the same

language used by his white employer.

The fact that Mr. Berry doesn’t like the “damned educated nigger” reflects not only the prevalent

discrimination but also the hostility towards possible modes (education in this case) by which people

of color may better their station in life.

The superficial aspect of one’s color by which a person is judged is also seen in Mr. Berry’s

interaction not only with John but with his work itself:

I gave special attention to that brass because for Berry, the manager, the luster

of these brass panels and door handles was the measure of all my industry.

Struggle for equality;

The theme of struggle for equality is brought out in John’s constant striving to better his position and
ensure a brighter future for his son. This is matched with the Union man’s struggle to ensure a fairer
and more equitable working condition for the laborers. Thus, one witnesses the struggle for equality
in both the social fault lines of color and class, as well as an individual’s personal and public life.

Relationships;
The theme of relationships has been portrayed in The Black Ball in both personal and public lives of
the character. The intimacy of the father-son duo lends a greater depth to the intensity of
discriminatory practices that these two individuals face. John is a responsible father who takes care
of his son, loves him and is alarmed when he goes missing, although momentarily. Similarly, his
relationship with Mrs. Johnson (who is good to his boy) and the newly forged relationship with the
Union man which rests on a common cause goes on to show that one needs support of well-wishers
to sustain oneself in a wholesome manner.
Race, nation and belonging
Politics and solidarity
Childhood innocence
Racial violence and injustice