Black Man's Response To 'Battle Royal'

Response to “Battle Royal”

Battle Royal is written in first person. The person being a young black man who hears his grandfather give his son, the young man’s father, advice about dealing with prejudice and bigotry of a white man’s world. His advice is to “live with your head in the lion’s mouth” (275). Overcome them with yesses, grins, and agree them to death. The young man is respectful and has been praised by the white men. So, he believes that he is following his grandfather’s strange advice.

He is invited to give a graduation speech in front of white men in the town. When he arrives at the hotel and goes into the ballroom. It is filled with cigar smoke, a naked woman and all the important white men who are drinking smoking and laughing. He is told that he will be fighting in a battle royal before giving his graduation speech. Before the Civil War, the plantation owners would put blindfolds on their slaves and have them fight until only one was standing. What these white men were doing was enjoying themselves at these young black men’s expenses. Even though the young black man excels at his college and is an honorable young man, he is nothing more than entertainment for the important, racist, white men. At the end of the match, the young black man is one of

Through all the humiliation he still has his dignity. He is also beginning to understand what his grandfather’s advice meant. He stands before this group of white racists with blood keeping his speech from being clear. As he talks about Booker T. Washington’s beliefs about races working and living peacefully together, he chokes on blood. He was having a hard time saying social responsibility. There were laughing and yelling to speak louder until he accidentally says social equality. Then there was total silence. The young man had to explain himself as to how it was a mistake because he was swallowing