The Black Ball

by

Ralph Ellison

Mr. Catti Character Analysis

In the last story, “In a Strange Country,” Mr. Catti is the local man who graciously welcomes the Black American soldier Mr. Parker to Wales. He drinks with Parker, tells him how much he appreciates Black Americans and their culture, and even brings him to a local singing club. Parker is so taken aback by Catti’s generosity and respect that, at times, he wonders if Catti is playing an elaborate practical joke on him. But he isn’t: since he hasn’t grown up under the U.S.’s system of racial hierarchy, Catti simply treats Parker like any other man and doesn’t harbor any prejudice toward him. In fact, he sees Welsh people and Black Americans as kindred nations because they both face similar kinds of oppression within their countries. His attitude shows Parker and the reader what it would be like to live in a racially just society.

Mr. Catti Quotes in The Black Ball

The The Black Ball quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Catti or refer to Mr. Catti. 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:
Race, Nation, and Belonging Theme Icon
).
The Black Ball Quotes

“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.

Related Characters: John (speaker), John’s Son (speaker), Hymie, Hymie’s Bull, Mr. Berry, Mr. Parker, Mr. Catti
Related Symbols: The White and Black Balls
Page Number: 38-39
Explanation and Analysis:
In a Strange Country Quotes

Moving along the road in the dark he had planned to stay ashore all night, and in the morning he would see the country with fresh eyes, like those with which the Pilgrims had seen the New World. That hadn’t seemed so silly then—not until the soldiers bunched at the curb had seemed to spring out of the darkness. Someone had cried, “Jesus H. Christ,” and he had thought, He’s from home, and grinned and apologized into the light they flashed in his eyes. He had felt the blow coming when they yelled, “It’s a goddamn nigger,” but it struck him anyway.

Related Characters: Mr. Parker, Mr. Catti
Page Number: 41-42
Explanation and Analysis:

At first he had included them in his blind rage. But they had seemed so genuinely and uncondescendingly polite that he was disarmed. Now the anger and resentment had slowly ebbed, and he felt only a smoldering sense of self-hate and ineffectiveness. Why should he blame them when they had only helped him? He had been the one so glad to hear an American voice. You can’t take it out on them, they’re a different breed; even from the English. That’s what he’s been telling you, he thought, seeing Mr. Catti returning, his head held to one side to avoid the smoke from his cigarette, the foam-headed glasses caged in his fingers.

Related Characters: Mr. Parker, Mr. Catti
Page Number: 42
Explanation and Analysis:

“Are there many like me in Wales?”

“Oh yes! Yanks all over the place. Black Yanks and white.”

“Black Yanks?” He wanted to smile.

“Yes. And many a fine lad at that.”

Related Characters: Mr. Parker (speaker), Mr. Catti (speaker)
Page Number: 43
Explanation and Analysis:

The well-blended voices caught him unprepared. He heard the music’s warm richness with pleasurable surprise, and heard, beneath the strange Welsh words, echoes of plain song, like that of Russian folk songs sounding.

Related Characters: Mr. Parker, Mr. Catti
Page Number: 46
Explanation and Analysis:

But what do you believe in? Oh, shut—I believe in music! Well! And in what’s happening here tonight. I believe … I want to believe in this people. Something was getting out of control. He became on guard. At home he could drown his humanity in a sea of concealed cynicism, and white men would never recognize it. But these men might understand. Perhaps, he felt with vague terror, all evening he had been exposed, blinded by the brilliant light of their deeper humanity, and they had seen him for what he was and for what he should have been.

Related Characters: Mr. Parker, Mr. Catti
Page Number: 49
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Black Ball PDF

Mr. Catti Quotes in The Black Ball

The The Black Ball quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Catti or refer to Mr. Catti. 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:
Race, Nation, and Belonging Theme Icon
).
The Black Ball Quotes

“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.

Related Characters: John (speaker), John’s Son (speaker), Hymie, Hymie’s Bull, Mr. Berry, Mr. Parker, Mr. Catti
Related Symbols: The White and Black Balls
Page Number: 38-39
Explanation and Analysis:
In a Strange Country Quotes

Moving along the road in the dark he had planned to stay ashore all night, and in the morning he would see the country with fresh eyes, like those with which the Pilgrims had seen the New World. That hadn’t seemed so silly then—not until the soldiers bunched at the curb had seemed to spring out of the darkness. Someone had cried, “Jesus H. Christ,” and he had thought, He’s from home, and grinned and apologized into the light they flashed in his eyes. He had felt the blow coming when they yelled, “It’s a goddamn nigger,” but it struck him anyway.

Related Characters: Mr. Parker, Mr. Catti
Page Number: 41-42
Explanation and Analysis:

At first he had included them in his blind rage. But they had seemed so genuinely and uncondescendingly polite that he was disarmed. Now the anger and resentment had slowly ebbed, and he felt only a smoldering sense of self-hate and ineffectiveness. Why should he blame them when they had only helped him? He had been the one so glad to hear an American voice. You can’t take it out on them, they’re a different breed; even from the English. That’s what he’s been telling you, he thought, seeing Mr. Catti returning, his head held to one side to avoid the smoke from his cigarette, the foam-headed glasses caged in his fingers.

Related Characters: Mr. Parker, Mr. Catti
Page Number: 42
Explanation and Analysis:

“Are there many like me in Wales?”

“Oh yes! Yanks all over the place. Black Yanks and white.”

“Black Yanks?” He wanted to smile.

“Yes. And many a fine lad at that.”

Related Characters: Mr. Parker (speaker), Mr. Catti (speaker)
Page Number: 43
Explanation and Analysis:

The well-blended voices caught him unprepared. He heard the music’s warm richness with pleasurable surprise, and heard, beneath the strange Welsh words, echoes of plain song, like that of Russian folk songs sounding.

Related Characters: Mr. Parker, Mr. Catti
Page Number: 46
Explanation and Analysis:

But what do you believe in? Oh, shut—I believe in music! Well! And in what’s happening here tonight. I believe … I want to believe in this people. Something was getting out of control. He became on guard. At home he could drown his humanity in a sea of concealed cynicism, and white men would never recognize it. But these men might understand. Perhaps, he felt with vague terror, all evening he had been exposed, blinded by the brilliant light of their deeper humanity, and they had seen him for what he was and for what he should have been.

Related Characters: Mr. Parker, Mr. Catti
Page Number: 49
Explanation and Analysis: