Paper Topic:

Ellison--"King of the Bingo Game"

Symbolism in "King of the Bingo Game

In Ralph Ellison 's short story "King of the Bingo Game " he portrays and African American man on the verge of losing everything , playing for his life in a Bingo game , and because he tried so hard to win , lost everything in the end . In terms of symbolism in this story , one symbol definitely stands out : the Bingo wheel . According to the mechanics of the game the unnamed man plays in the story , after you win the first part where you complete a line on a

Bingo card , you are given the chance to spin the wheel and win the grand prize if it lands on the 00 mark The Bingo wheel could be taken to represent more than one thing for the main character . After a superficial reading of the story , one could say that the wheel represents the man 's hopes and fears . If he won the grand prize , he would have money to pay some of his wife 's medical bills Although the monetary relief would not be that great , his hopes are pinned on the wheel he needed that small victory . However , the wheel also represents his fears because just like his life , he does not have full control on where the wheel will go . This would explain why he is so reluctant to let go of the button , because he is afraid to relinquish control over his destiny . However , upon deeper analysis of the text , one will see...

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