Summary- "Battle Royal" By Ralph Ellison

"Battle Royal"-You have to remember that Battle royal is not the title of the book. Its part of a chapter, the book is called Invisible Man. This chapter shows that an african American Narrator who in his point of view sees himself as being praised and chanted by the white folks but the real reason is that he is actually getting mocked by the white folks while he was giving a speech. He had to discover on his own that he was an invisible man and that he was nobody. Be aware that the setting is in 1952. Which means that the slavery had ended but there was still racial segregation going on. Even though he was humiliated by the white people he would not care, he would make speeches and he would listen to what the white folks tells  him to do because he wanted their respect and he wanted to fit in. In the beginning when the grandfather was about to past away he tell the narrator to don't be a traitor to your own people because that is what the grandfather did. Which means that the grandfather use to do what the white folks would tell him to do. "battle royal" is just a fight where they blind fold a black men and has to fight in the boxing ring with each other. The narrator participate in that event because he wanted to earn respect from the white people. He was degrading himself and he was ashamed to be black. Even when the white people were mocking him he would see it as earning respect from them. He didn't stand up for his own people.They would receive coins for the fight and they were put under the rug which was electric and it would shock them when they try to get the coin. At the end the narrator gets a briefcase which he got a scholarship to go to state college for black youth