Being gazed is a danger: On the white gaze and racial identity construction in "Battle Royal"

    

    Racial segregation and racial prejudice have polarized American society into two worlds of mutual hostility and alienation - white society and black society (Du Bois). Black people can only live in the black neighborhoods of cities; Whether in cars, hotels, waiting rooms, hospitals, residential areas, churches, or cemeteries, the usage areas for black and white people are strictly divided. Every African American black person is destined to suffer unfair treatment from the day they are born. They live a dual life in the United States, which is a humiliating life of being a nominal American citizen but essentially a second-class citizen. Their experiences were like "living in the mainstream of the 19th century yet struggling in the vortex of the 15th century. This kind of life inevitably led to a painful self-awareness among African Americans," almost a pathological sense of personality and a moral confusion that dealt a fatal blow to self-confidence. "African American black people, due to their political, economic, and cultural weaknesses, had to rely on the white world. The white world's attachment to black people loved and hated them, loved the cheap labor they could obtain, and economically exploited black people: hated the unwillingness to interact with ugly black people, and ideologically despised black people. To survive, most black people did their best to continuously improve their cultural level. With labor skills, they strive to integrate into the mainstream of American society, but due to rampant racism, white people reject, discriminate against, and persecute black people everywhere, leading to division among black people who strive to integrate into white society. Some people continue to maintain the spiritual state of slavery and beg for favors from white people; some wear masks to continue to interact with white people, protect themselves, and seek vitality.

    Just as the narrator in the Battle Royal is an unnamed black youth. He gave a speech, which was praised by everyone in the town and established as a model of good conduct. Therefore, he was invited to give another speech at the big restaurant where the town's top figures gathered. He thought this was a great recognition of himself by white authorities, so he made careful preparations, but to his surprise, it was completely an experience of being played with.

    Before the speech, he was forced to stand in front of a naked blonde beauty, almost naked, with a dozen strong black youths, watching attentively. This scene is highly symbolic and is considered to condense the entire world in the novel, almost a microcosm of the entire American society. On the one hand, these black youths seem to be in the observer's position, just like the white males present, "possessing" the kind of male gaze that is particularly aimed at female bodies; But on the other hand, they are also like the naked beauty being watched, being monitored by white men. They also lack clothing to cover themselves, and are clearly visible in the sight of white men. Black men in their adolescence were aroused by the white beauties in front of them, burning with desire. However, they were immediately intimidated by the gaze of white men and dared not look up. This reminded them of the racial taboos related to "seeing" in American history - black people secretly watching white women in class means being lynched - these young people did not experience participating in "seeing" in front of white naked women The pleasure, but the oppression and anxiety of wanting to see but not daring to see, as well as the shame of being seen like her. The white nude woman in front of her is a visual temptation and also a forbidden fruit of the United States that prohibits black men from approaching; The white men around me were a visual threat, to the point where "I suddenly felt a inexplicable sense of guilt and fear, my teeth shivering, goosebumps all over my body, and my knees trembling.". In a sense, this is a symbolic castration of the inner sex of the people, a public exercise that pays homage to the gaze of white people, allowing them to admit their incompetence and shame while obeying white authority: "If we look at that girl, some will show their ferocity; if we don't look at her, some will show their anger." It can be seen that white men are the owners of power and the "forbidden fruit" The beneficiaries and defenders of the black man are also actors who can generate active desires and obtain satisfaction, while the black man, like the naked girl, is the object of observation and the carrier of the evil desire that can be lynched at any time. They coveted the forbidden fruit, but in the face of the authoritarian gaze of white men, they could only bow their heads and feel discouraged. The young men in this group who are under the supervision of white people, whether they look or not, are all obedient to the power of white people. As George Yancy said, under the surveillance of white people full of prejudice and oppression, "white people's eyes are internalized by black people, resulting in a dual psychological consciousness, a discourse mechanism that constantly monitors and suspects oneself."(Yancy). 

    Being forced to watch nude women is just a hot topic activity for white people, and the upcoming fighting and melee is the highlight. These black youths were blindfolded with wide white cloth strips, and no one could see each other, so they had to fight with each other. In the white world, the body consciousness of black people is almost entirely a negative behavior The body of black people is surrounded by an uncertain atmosphere (Johnson). This is undoubtedly an accurate grasp of the current feelings of these black youth, whose eyes are covered, completely deprived of vision, and become objects of white onlookers. They can only perceive their surroundings through auditory and physical sensations, with their ears filled with the grim smiles of white audiences and the insults of various forms of racism: "black bastard" "black sonsabitch," and "ginger-colored nigger" Their bodies feel raindrops of chaotic punches and kicks flying from nowhere, with blurred vision obscured by their eyes on one side and painful bodies battered by blows on the other, The real source of trouble for them is not the darkness hidden in front of them, but the darkness on their bodies. Having black skin in the visual world constructed by white power is their original sin. They cannot see their own bodies, but are more sensitive to their existence due to pain - a physical body that brings them endless trouble and pain. Simone de Beauvoir once said, "Being watched is one danger, and being abused is another danger." This dual danger is exactly what the invisible person is experiencing at this moment (Beauvoir).

    Finally, when the narrator gave a heartfelt speech to the white people in town, he subconsciously referred to their "social responsibility" as "social equality," but was immediately reprimanded and forced to change his tune and comply with the white people. At that time, due to his youth and immaturity, intentional insults from white people did not inspire his sense of shame and self-esteem. It can be seen that the accumulation of slavery culture had a great negative impact on black teenagers. The acquisition of a university scholarship to some extent encouraged his servile performance.

    Johanna Shapiro once said, "For over three thousand years, white people have enjoyed the privilege of seeing but not being seen,"(Shapiro). White people have always been in a privileged position to gaze at the subject, while black people are the object of gaze. This gaze is not ordinary viewing, but a visual violence full of disciplinary power. It defines the meaning of black people's bodies and dominates the imagination and identity construction of black others. From the perspective of black people, if they are always in the position of "being seen," In terms of position, or internalizing the gaze of white people as a measure of one's own introspection, then what is highly visible is the black other constructed by white people, which is despised by everyone, and this is actually participating in the compromise and conspiracy against the unfair racial order. The true black self is still invisible. Only when the "invisible person" no longer acts as the object of gaze and strives for the right to counter gaze, can he create historical possibilities for the construction of his own identity. Of course, a direct and meaningful anti-gaze of black people is not a reversal of the gaze of white people. As radical black nationalists envision, one day they can reverse their rule over white people. Instead, it means facing the world in a specific way and taking actions that represent personal values and order of meaning, ultimately constructing their own subject identity.

Works Cited

Charles Johnson, "A Phenology of the Black Body," in Rudolph P. Byrd, ed., I Call Myself an Artist: Writings by and about Charles Johnson, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999, p.114 

George Yancy, "Whiteness and the Return of the Black Body," in Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 19.4 (2005), p.219

Johanna Shapiro, “[Re]Examining the Clinical Gaze Through the Prism of Literature”, in Families, Systems&Health, 20.2 (2002) , p.163.

W.E.B. Du Bois. The Souls of Black Folk. New York: Bantam Books,1989.

Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, trans.&ed.H.M. Parshley, London: Jonathan Cape, 1953, p.376