名前: Name
If you listen to a televised sporting event,
announcers usually refer to players by their names or numbers, presumably to
avoid confusion. In “Champion of the World”, however, Angelou’s announcer
refers Joe Louis’s opponent, Primo Carnera, by name only once in the story,
preferring to call him “the contender” (Angelou 89). At first glance, it
doesn’t seem like a big deal. Angelou probably did that so Carnera could just
fade into the background, as it’s Joe Louis and the black community who’s
important; it doesn’t matter who, exactly, they’re fighting against.
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| Joe Louis, the Brown Bomber |
However, the use of “the contender” also denotes a
sense of an all-powerful being. “The contender” could be any white man; heck,
it could be the entire white community put together. By not being given a name,
Joe Louis’s opponent is not given a personality – he has no weaknesses. This is
apparent in the circumstances under which “the contender” is used: “the
contender is hanging on” (Angelou 89), “the contender keeps raining the blows” (Angelou
89), “the contender is trying to get up again” (Angelou 90). In every case, Joe
Louis’s opponent shows no sign of defeat. Joe Louis could go at him for hours,
days, years, just as the black community has been working against racism for
hours, days, years, and “the contender” would never weaken.
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| Primo Carnera and Joe Louis, standing side by side. Despite being smaller than Primo Carnera, Joe Louis still manages to win. |
The moment “the contender” is given a name, however,
Joe Louis gains the upper hand. He is no longer boxing with an idea of the
white community, but with Carnera, one person. And one person, to Joe Louis, who
won 66 out of 70 fights in his lifetime, is no big deal. When Carnera is
reduced to only his name, the Brown Bomber becomes the “champion of the world”
(Angelou 90).
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