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John
In “The Black Ball,” the protagonist, John, is the sole parent to his unnamed four-year-old son. John’s son spends the whole day playing alone, as he is too young to go to school and he could face violence, discrimination, or other problems if he plays with white kids. In this way, racism isolates him and deprives him of many of the basic pleasures of childhood. (However, he does occasionally play with the gardener’s son, Jackie.) He is intensely curious: in the morning, he asks John if he is really Black, and in the afternoon, he tells John that he wants to be a trucker when he grows up. (Trucking has long been a heavily unionized industry, so this comment makes John think seriously about joining the union for the first time.) The major conflict in the story occurs after John’s son takes his ball outside to play, but a white boy steals it and throws it into the building manager Mr. Berry’s window. Mr. Berry blames John and his son for the commotion, and John’s son is surprised and confused when Berry predicts that John will end up “behind the black ball” (blacklisted, or fired). John’s son points out that his ball is white, not black, which shows that he doesn’t fully understand the situation that his father is facing. Much like James in “Boy on a Train,” thanks to the events in this story, John’s son starts to realize that people treat him differently from white people solely based on race—but he still doesn’t fully understand the U.S.’s racial hierarchy. While what he is learning will prepare him for the rest of his life as a Black man in a deeply unequal society, it is also depriving him of the innocent, carefree childhood that Ellison suggests all people deserve.
John’s Son Quotes in The Black Ball
The The Black Ball quotes below are all either spoken by John’s Son or refer to John’s Son. 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:
).
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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“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.”
“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.”
“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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“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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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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Get the entire The Black Ball LitChart as a printable PDF.
John’s Son Quotes in The Black Ball
The The Black Ball quotes below are all either spoken by John’s Son or refer to John’s Son. 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:
).
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.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“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.”
“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.”
“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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“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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Explanation and Analysis:
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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