The King and the Cat: Ellison and Schrödinger on Contingency and Reality

Ralph Ellison’s short story, “King of the Bingo Game,” is frequently anthologized and often taught in college classrooms as a fine example of African American fiction. Issues such as self-definition, self-determination, and cultural criticism are obvious entry points into the text. While all of these serve the instructor well, I believe that the idea of indeterminacy, such an integral part of quantum mechanics, is also an interesting and viable entry point into the text. It articulates many of the intellectual concerns within the story, and illustrates a foundational concept in contemporary physics as well.