him just as they did his black peers. The black boys are presented with a white exotic dancer. Many of the white men in the room force the boys to look at her while others threaten them when they do. The night progressed and brought more disgrace for the boys as they were blind folded and told to fight each other like wild animals. They continued to fight each other while the white men’s taunts and threats were all that they could hear. In the end, it came down to the narrator and another character as the only ones left in the ring. They were to finish the fight so a winner could be declared and claim the prize. The narrator could only think of the speech he was to deliver at the end of the night despite being beaten and humiliated at the hands of the white men whom he longed to impress. At the end of the night, after he had successfully endured humiliation and physical pain at the hands of the white men, his speech finally came. He delivers his speech in spite of pain, with his mouth full of blood. Throughout his speech the white men continue to humiliate him, in spite of the seriousness of his speech and his enthusiasm. After delivering his speech, the narrator is rewarded with a briefcase and scholarship to the state college for negroes. Although the narrator is rewarded for his speech, it was not nearly enough. At the end of the story the narrator has a dream about his grandfather which had symbolized that no matter how hard he tried to gain respect with whites he would still be invisible to them.

4. Discuss the point of view and discuss what it adds to the story.

The “Battle Royal” gives the reader a frightening look at how society looks at blacks. It was clear at the time of this story was written that black men could never show any kind of attraction for white women. This was one of the unwritten laws of society aimed at blacks. The story shows a little bit of ugly American history, where blacks were treated as if they were not equal to whites. The story demonstrates the attitudes of a white society toward blacks. The lives of the blacks were dictated by how whites thought they should live. This story demonstrated just some of the terrible aspects of being black in society at that time.

Some topics in this essay:
Ralph Ellison, Imagery Tone, African American, African Americans, Discuss Symbolism, white citizens, story story, leading white citizens, leading white, african americans, african american, white society, impress whites community, discuss adds story, story narrator, advice grandfather, deliver speech, hardships protagonist, african americans fought,