Battle Royal, by Ralph Ellison is about a boy that is trying to survive and get an education in a white man's world. He finds himself faced with several obstacles that he must overcome in order to deliver his speech. He knows that he has to deliver his speech in order to get into the white man's good graces so that he can attend college. This story isn't just talking about one boy and his …showed first 75 words of 1358 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1358 total…poor black boy that was subjected to the harsh cruelty the white man so willingly offered him, but as every member of the whole black race struggling to live. Through symbolism, the author, Ellison helps us not only to see the inhumane manner in which whites treated blacks, but to feel the black man's pain. He brings to surface our outrage for such indecent treatment. In this way he helped us to be better people.