This Ralph Ellison story opens with a poverty-stricken African-American man sitting in a theater waiting for the end-of-movie bingo game. He needs a win. His partner Laura is dying, and he has no money for medical treatment. The game begins and his numbers come up. When called onto the stage to spin a wheel of fortune to claim the prize, the hungry, alcohol affected man becomes delusional and creates a scene. Police intervene and, although the wheel stops on the jackpot number, he wins the game but not the money. Themes: identity (paranoia, alienation, desperation), prejudice, illusion, self-determination vs. fate.
There is a lot more to this story than the short summary above. The prejudice experienced by the protagonist is not just racial, but regional (Southern black vs. Northern black). The humiliation he receives on the stage because of his Southern accent and country ways creates a feeling of racial shame that he hopes to overcome by declaring himself the “King of Bingo”. The sense that fate is against him (Laura’s illness and the fact that he can’t get a job because he doesn’t have a birth certificate) leads him to challenge or at least postpone providence by prolonging the wheel spin.
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