In studying the history of human beings past and present, it is apparent that mankind is not always humane. For a young boy living in the south, A Party Down at the Square shows the dark experience of witnessing the celebration of dispensing death to another human being. Through the use of stark symbolism, vivid imagery, and repetitive diction, Ralph Ellison depicts the raw and unfiltered ugliness of mankind from a firsthand account. In turn, he presents the audience with the reminder that humans can be just as chaotic and ugly as they can be innocent and pure. In this story Ellison uses imagery to best explain from the child’s perspective, what he is experiencing during the night. Throughout the context, he paints a picture for the readers of the storm to allow his audience to feel present and draw them into the story. While foreshadowing the harsh storm to come with the rain from the beginning of the night, he prepares the setting of transpiring events to reflect the internal change the boy goes through. He uses the…show more content… The depiction of a once leader as being rotten further asserts the cruel acts from the whites to the alleged freed man, and the darkness that can be found within the human spirit. The statue is also symbolic of the authors innocence becoming spoiled because of the progression from child to man. While it is not only ugly to him and the reader, it is a disturbingly scary image that creates a fear of mankind to him. Through the uses symbolism, diction, and imagery, Ellison’s story “A Party Down at the Square” took me through a cold, rainy, winter night, where a young man experienced the lynching and burning of an African American man for the pleasure of
