"I'm invisible! I'm invisible! Can you see me?"*

The opening chapter of the 'Battle Royale' serves as an excellent example of invisibility along general and racial lines in Ralph Ellison's novel, Invisible Man. In this passage, young black men are invited to a local banquet attended by local prominent white men, only to be set up against each other for the entertainment of these prominent figures.
On one level, such a scene of cruel sport speaks to all the disenfranchised. Whether you work in a factory, a restaurant, or at a post office, one may feel that you have lost your identity in the demands of your job. You are no longer Susan or Steve, but the labor that makes easier for those you are serving. You become the shirt on the rack, the menu laid gingerly in front of your customer, or the letter in the mailbox. All that concerns those who benefit from your labor is the outcome, not the fact that a human being did it. In this sense, the loss of identity experienced by the narrator, and the other 'fighters' at the banquet that night can be felt by anyone who has felt unappreciated and taken for granted.
One another level, the sense of invisibility felt by the narrator are specific to those who have been marginalized for their race. The narrator and the other young black men are invited as entertainment for powerful white men, and they entertain them by playing to the stereotypes their 'audience' hold of them. The fights and subsequent struggle for payment in coin were meant to reinforce the view popular among whites at the time that blacks were violent, mindless, and greedy. This was not just a sporting event where one could bet on the outcome of a match, but a ceremony by which the powerful white men of the community asserted their dominance. In all of this, there was no place for any of the boys to be individuals. They were forced into being the stereotypes the white community wanted them to be. When racial stereotypes dominate, as they do in the 'Battle Royale', then one truly becomes invisible.

*Quote from the amazing film, Mystery Men. I know I'm dealing with a serious subject, but I'm just happy for the moment that I did a non-generic title for once.