In Ellison’s Battle Royal the narrator constantly struggles throughout the chapter with a internal conflict between being obedient or secretly fighting the white race while being obedient. The narrator was told by his grandfather to “overcome ‘em with yeses, undermine ‘em with grins” and “agree ‘em to death and destruction...” I believe the grandfather was trying to warn his family that the way to fight back is by doing it incognito. He is trying to explain that opposing white mens orders is a very dangerous and not necessarily effective way of attaining respect and equality.The narrator is puzzled by his grandfather’s advice because he actually believes that if he behaves obsequiously towards white men he in turn will be rewarded. This is not entirely true. The narrator does receive a scholarship but first must pay a price and fight in a “battle royal” as well as pick up fake money off an electrical rug. The narrator is persistently reminded that he is apart of a lesser class and is not worth being treated with the same respect a white man would receive. I believe Ellison uses certain events like having the forbidden naked white women on the stage to emphasis the conflict the narrator has. He cannot decide what the right thing to do is since he is subjected to unequal standards that he does not quite understand.

This short story by Ralph Ellison shines a harsh light on the blatant racism that dominated our culture for decades, despite the supposed “equality” between whites and blacks at the time. It is brutal in the insight it gives into the main character’s thoughts as he does his best to appease his boorish white oppressors, who seem completely ignorant of his efforts because they are so blinded by his race. This story reminded me of Spike Lee’s “Bamboozled”, which also follows the disillusionment of a black man as he tried to temporarily succumb to the pressures of racism by creating crass, racist material which he was sure would not be successful. However, due to some innate racism still existing in society, the show, which is extremely degrading towards all blacks, particularly the actors, is a success. In this movie, blacks are also regarded as entertainment, even as clowns, as they put on “black face” and act foolishly on stage, to the enjoyment of the live studio audience and the millions of viewers around the country. There is a sad progression in both main characters as they realize that their efforts to maintain the status quo and satisfy those in a position of power over them are completely futile, for it seems society will never change entirely from its racist roots. For people that enjoyed Ellison’s “Battle Royal”, I highly recommend the controversial Spike Lee joint “Bamboozled”, which is highly reminiscent of this short story.

In Battle Royal, Ralph Ellison does a good job of describing the characteristic and the way the narrator thinks. He writes about the struggle the narrator goes through and the determination he has to get through it. After being chosen to speak at a gathering of "leading white citizens," the narrator is both nervous and excited. Upon arrival of the event, the narrator is forced to participate in the battle royal. Ellison describes a battle where the african american men participating are basically being tortured. Ellison shows that even through the torturing, the blood and the pain that the narrator feels, he is still focused on giving the speech. He writes, "The harder we fought the more threatening the men became. And yet, I had begun to worry about my speech again. How would it go? Would they recognize my ability?" This symbolizes the struggle that african americans had to go through in order to finally gain equality. The narrator is invited to speak at a prestigious dinner but instead is forced into a torturous game. After the game, he is still allowed to speak and eventually is applauded and earns a scholarship to the state college for Negroes. Ellison does a great job of depicting the struggle and difficulty for african americans to rise above and gain racial equality.

In Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal”, the themes of identity and individuality run deep into the narrator and out of the narrator. The grandfather urged the narrator’s father to kill the white man with kindness, and the advice has followed the family all the way down to the meek narrator. Without the grandfathers advice, the narrator would not have carried on his persistence of equality after being beaten up for being physical different. Traits of persistence in identity in this story connect to me in ways that I can relate to. One event would be the fight that the narrator is thrown in to. For me, it represents every day of my life because I have learned that in any given second we can be involuntarily thrown into a situation that may be both harmful and detrimental. I got in a major car crash last year that totaled my car and could have easily killed my sister and I. From that, I took away the overly careful driver I am now. I constantly make sure people I drive with are wearing their seatbelts as well as myself because of the possibilities of disaster. After reading about the fight the narrator was put into and how he grew from it and still proved his points in his speech, I connected that situation with my car crash and how I’ve coped with it like him. Our identity and individuality makes out the people we are and who we have become, but sometimes our identities can expand to make out who others will become. Mine carries on for others to realize how crazy the black pavement can be and the narrator’s turned racial slurs for many into a stutter and second thought on discrimination.

In “Battle Royal” the interaction between the grandfather and his son at the beginning has a big impact on the grandson/narrator. The grandfather’s statement on his death bed, “I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days … I want you to overcome ‘em with yeses, undermine ‘em with grins, agree ‘em to death and destruction, let ‘em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open” instantly shifts the attention away from his death and rather to the meaning of his words. His words are about how by staying unnoticed has its advantages and to use this natural stealth against the white man. The narrator immediately lets us know about the grandson and how he has been on a search for something; an answer to a question. After hearing what his grandfather had said it begins to make him question whether his actions are actually good or bad. Consequently he feels guilty and uncomfortable when things go well for him because he feels like he is playing into his grandfather’s plan. The words impacted him on a psychological level because he had always taken his grandfather for “a quiet old man who never made any trouble and was astonished to hear his grandfather refer to himself as a traitor. The grandson came to the realization that “I am nobody but myself. But first I had to discover that I am an invisible man” (224). By this he means that his actions seem to go unnoticed because he stays in line and does what he is told. By this conclusion he is buying into his grandfather’s plan whether he chose to or not.