"king of the Bingo Game" - Palph Ellison - 1944
Introduction
First published in the literary journal Tomorrow in November 1944, Ralph Ellison's short story"King of the Bingo Game" explores black men's alienation in white society. In the story, the main character struggles with the reality of his existence. The protagonist feels hopeless: he lives in an unfamiliar city in an unfamiliar part of the country and is further isolated by the threat of his wife's death from a sickness they cannot afford to treat. He is poor, hungry, and afraid of what his future holds. His vulnerable position in society speaks to the plight of blacks living in America at the time the story was written, particularly to those who have come north with hopes of realizing their dreams.
Throughout "King of the Bingo Game," Ellison creates an atmosphere that is at once harshly realistic and dreamily surreal, mirroring the character's state of mind as he alternates between hopelessness and hope. The protagonist goes unnamed throughout the story, allowing him to serve as a generic representation of the black experience. His experience is not just that of an individual: he could be any black man in the 1940s.
This is a free page. This page contains 201 words. This
article contains 8,028 words (approx. 27 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Article with our "king of the Bingo Game" - Palph Ellison - 1944 Access Pass.
