Ralph Ellison's "Battle Royal" is a story about blindness and realization.
It's about conformity and uprising. "Battle Royal" is about wanting to please the very people who look at you as an inferior race. In this story, the narrator is moved from idealism to realism. He is awakened to a new world in which he finally sees the prejudice that exists and that is directed toward him.
The story begins with the narrator reminiscing about the day his grandfather died. His grandfather delivered a speech that would haunt his young grandson for years to come. The old man said "Son, after I'm gone I want you to keep up the good fight. I never told you, but I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy's country ever since I gave up my gun back in the Reconstruction. Live with your head in the lion's mouth. I want you to overcome them with yeses, undermine them with grins, agree them to death and destruction, let them swallow you till they vomit or bust wide open. Learn it to......

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Title: Ralph Ellison's "Battle Royal"
Approximate Word Count: 820
Approximate Pages: 4 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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