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Hymie
John, the protagonist of “The Black Ball,” is an honest, hardworking Black single father living in an unnamed city in the Southwestern U.S. He began working as a janitor in an upscale apartment building a few months before the story begins, and he works tirelessly in order to please his meticulous, racist boss, Mr. Berry, who has been replacing the building’s Black employees with white newcomers. During the story, a white union organizer tries to recruit John into his new multiracial building workers’ union. John isn’t sure what to do: he knows that his working conditions are poor and would do almost anything to improve them, but he also feels that unions are for white people and sincerely believes in the American ideal of advancing in life based on hard work alone. Indeed, his actions during the day reflect this belief: he spends his free time studying, and he tells his son that it’s even better to be American than to be Black or white. After all, his driving concern in life is to provide a better life for his son. And yet the day’s events show him that he may not be able to do this unless he can unite with others to change the social, economic, and political conditions of Black life in the U.S. When his son asks to play outside with his ball, John asks him to play in the back alley, instead of in front with the white kids. But his son goes to the front alley, where a white boy steals his ball and throws it into Mr. Berry’s window. Mr. Berry blames John and threatens to fire him. And John takes the blame—he knows that no white person will ever believe the truth. He realizes that, even if he does everything right at work, circumstances outside his control could still cost him his job. In other words, working hard and acting respectably are not enough to overcome racism. So he decides to attend the organizer’s union meeting. John’s new political consciousness represents all Black people: Ellison thought that their only chance of truly improving their situation was through collective political action.
John Quotes in The Black Ball
The The Black Ball quotes below are all either spoken by John or refer to John. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Black Ball Quotes
“What’s the matter son?”
“Daddy, am I black?”
“Of course not, you’re brown. You know you’re not black.”
[…]
“Brown’s much nicer than white, isn’t it, Daddy?”
[…]
“Some people think so. But American is better than both, son.”
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At the beginning of the title story, John’s four-year-old son asks if he’s Black. The gardener’s son was making fun of him, and he doesn’t know what to believe. Much like James in “Boy on a Train,” John’s son is only starting to understand race and how it influences the society he lives in. His father assuages his son by saying that he’s brown, not Black. Curiously, rather than talking about Blackness as a racial group designation, John literally describes his son’s skin color. On one level, perhaps he wants to shield his son from the knowledge that he belongs Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic t
There must be no flaws this morning. Two fellows who worked at the building across the street had already been dismissed because whites had demanded their jobs, and with the boy at that age needing special foods and me planning to enter school again next term, I couldn’t afford to allow something like that out on the sidewalk to spoil my chances.
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John works tirelessly at his janitorial job to try and please his tyrannical boss, Mr. Berry. He knows that Berry is an avowed racist who is looking for any excuse to give his job to a white man. But he doesn’t have time to condemn this racism or think about ways to fix it. After all, he has no power to do anything about it. He’s focused on survival, which means doing whatever is necessary to keep his job. If he works harder than any white man ever would, he figures, then perhaps Mr. Berry will recognize that it’s worth Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas
Why, I thought, doesn’t he go on in and ask for the job? Why bother me? Why tempt me to choke him? Doesn’t he know we aren’t afraid to fight his kind out this way?
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While John is polishing the brass doors of the apartment building where he works, a white stranger approaches him and asks about his job. John immediately assumes the worst: this man is looking for work, and he probably thinks his best chance of getting it is by convincing a sympathetic white manager to give him a Black man’s job. This is John’s internal monologue after the man comes over: John would be willing to fight the man to keep his job if it came to that. Of course, in the context of Jim Crow, John’s cautious hostility makes sense. Mr. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Acc
“Not used to anything like that, are you?”
“Not used to what?”
A little more from this guy and I would see red.
“Fellow like me offering a fellow like you something besides a rope.”
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The white union organizer approaches John and offers him some Bull Durham tobacco. John is confused and remains suspicious of the man’s intentions. (He assumes that the man is trying to sweet-talk him into giving away details about his job so that he can replace John.) The organizer then tries to emphasize that he’s not hostile by making this gruesome joke about white men “offering” Black men “a rope”—or lynching them. While modern readers might see this joke as in bad taste, it probably wouldn’t have shocked John, for whom the threat of lynching was just an ordinary part of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor a
“You see, I come from the union and we intend to organize all the building-service help in this district. Maybe you been reading ‘bout it in the papers?”
“I saw something about it, but what’s it to do with me?”
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The union organizer explains his job and intentions to John, who is initially confused and suspicious. While contemporary readers may understand what the organizer is trying to do, John understandably found it bizarre and improbable that a white man would try to help him win better working conditions. As a Black man in the early 1900s, he likely only had hostile interactions with white people, and his justified skepticism toward them would have been difficult to shake. Indeed, he might even think that the white man’s labor union is a plot to ensure that all the service jobs in the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque
“Listen, fellow. You’re wasting your time and mine. Your damn unions are like everything else in the country – for whites only. What ever caused you to give a damn about a Negro anyway? Why should you try to organize Negroes?”
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John finds it very hard to believe that the union organizer seriously wants to help him—or that his attempts would ever succeed. Even if the organizer is serious, John wagers, no club full of white people will want him. He’s stuck in a zero-sum mindset: he assumes that anything that helps white people must harm him. But this was quite understandable, as this was how most of the U.S.’s political and economic system worked at the time. Even outside the South, almost everything was informally segregated. And when white people organized themselves, it was often to take away Black people’s Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laboru
“Daddy,” the boy called softly; it’s softly when I’m busy.
“Yes, son.”
“When I grow up I think I’ll drive a truck.”
“You do?”
“Yes, and then I can wear a lot of buttons on my cap like the men that bring the meat to the grocery. I saw a colored man with some today, Daddy. I looked out the window, and a colored man drove the truck today, and, Daddy, he had two buttons on his cap. I could see ‘em plain.”
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On his lunch break, John goes back upstairs to his quarters. His son is busy playing with his toy truck. Because he’s Black, he can’t safely play with the white kids outside, so he is stuck inside and plays alone. He tells his father that he wants to be a truck driver when he grows up—like the Black deliveryman with buttons on his hat. Ellison doesn’t make this connection explicitly for the reader, but this conversation clearly leads John to seriously reconsider the union organizer’s offer. Truck driving has long been one of the most heavily unionized professions in the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium
“All right now,” I told him. “You stay in the back out of everybody’s way, and you mustn’t ask anyone a lot of questions.”
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John’s son spends most of the day playing alone, inside. When he asks to go out in the afternoon, John finally agrees, but on one condition: he must play alone in the back alley, and not in the front with the white kids. Of course, John isn’t setting this condition out of malice—he’s trying to protect his son. He knows that, in a society that divides everything along the color line, it’s dangerous for a Black boy to mix with white kids. If something goes wrong, people will inevitably blame John and his son. And even if John’s son doesn’t Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaqu
“Well, if I ever see him around here again, you’re going to find yourself behind the black ball. Now get him on round to the back and then come up here and clean up this mess he’s made.”
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When John’s son ignores his father’s warning and goes to play in the front yard with the white boys, one of the boys steals his ball and throws it through Mr. Berry’s window. Unsurprisingly, Berry blames John’s son, and then he threatens John with “the black ball.” The meaning of this phrase would have been relatively clear to readers in Ellison’s time, but it may seem obscure to contemporary audiences. In fact, it combines a few different meanings. Literally, Mr. Berry is saying that John is going to face problems, or he’ll be “behind the eight ball” (which was often Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Ali
“Will I play with the black ball, Daddy?”
“In time son,” I said. “In time.”
He had already played with the ball; that he would discover later. He was learning the rules of the game already, but he didn’t know it. Yes, he would play with the ball. Indeed, poor little rascal, he would play until he grew sick of playing. My, yes, the old ball game. But I’d begin telling him the rules later.
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When Mr. Berry threatens John with “the black ball” (losing his job), John’s son is confused. He doesn’t understand the metaphor, and he protests that the ball he was playing with is white. Once again, John weighs how much of the situation to explain to his son. In his internal monologue, “the ball” takes on a third, entirely different meaning: it becomes a metaphor for racism. When he says that his son will learn the rules of the game, he means that he will have to learn to navigate racism and discrimination. Indeed, even today, young Black people face the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui
My hand was still burning from the scratch as I dragged the hose out to water the lawn, and looking down at the iodine stain, I thought of the fellow’s fried hands, and felt in my pocket to make sure I still had the card he had given me. Maybe there was a color other than white on the old ball.
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At the very end of “The Black Ball,” John reconsiders the union organizer’s offer. The incident with his son’s ball has shown him that no amount of hard work will ever make his job secure: Mr. Berry will simply never see beyond race. If he wants to give his son an education and stable life, he has to negotiate with Mr. Berry, not just acquiesce to his demands. And the union clearly provides his best chance of doing so. The union organizer’s “fried hands” attest to how much he has sacrificed for the cause of racial and economic justice. Of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempo
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John Character Timeline in The Black Ball
The timeline below shows where the character John appears in The Black Ball. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Black Ball
From six to eight in the morning, a Black man named John cleans the lobby and takes out the trash at the apartment building where he works...
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After breakfast, John leaves his son to play and rushes back to the lobby, where he dutifully polishes...
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The white stranger asks how long John has been working at the building. Two months, John replies. The stranger asks if other...
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...workers in the area so that they can get better pay and working conditions. But John doesn’t believe a white man would help Black people, and he has heard that unions...
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The dapper Mr. Berry comes to the building, looks at the brass door, and greets John. He asks if the other white man wanted to talk to him, but John says...
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John finds his son playing with a toy truck. He makes his son lunch, then he...
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From his window, John can see all around the neighborhood. He watches a group of children playing on a...
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John tries to read again but falls asleep instead. When he wakes up, it’s time to...
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Surely enough, when John comes to the front, he finds his son, who is crying. His son says that...
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When John comes out of the bathroom, his son asks him what Mr. Berry meant by the...
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John’s son asks if he will eventually get to play with the black ball, and John...
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