Places of Theory
The narrator took the negative ways of Negro life and used it to gain positive results, for him, from his white counterparts. The narrator believes that being asked to give speeches, which expressed the humility that Negroes should have, would serve as a stepping stone towards his goal of gaining their praises; much like that of Booker T. Washington. With respect to his grandfather and to the honor of Mr. Washington, I believe the narrator was right for wanting to use the theories of Booker T. Washington. In Ralph Ellison's "Battle Royal", the narrator first begins to reflect about the many conversations that took place between him and his grandfather. In the narrator's reflections, he recalls his grandfather's statement, "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 burst wide open" (p.223). This statement was something that the narrator thought about as he began to grow and understand the Negro roll in society. Although his grandfather, on his deathbed, uttered this statement, no one dared to repeat it outside of his family circle. But these were words that played around in the narrator's mind as he grew and gained more experience and i
What the narrator wanted most, at the time of his graduation, was to attend college. He is urged on to fight other Negro men and also forced to participate in fighting others for money and gold coins that are on a carpet filled with electrical volts. Upon reaching the ballroom, where the nights activities would take place, the narrator begins to think about how he, at one time in his life, wished he could be like Booker T. Upon graduation, the narrator still honored the belief that he had to use deception as the key to gain the things he wanted. The treachery takes place when the narrator gets the briefcase and the official scholarship to the Negro college. Washington, in theory, but in practice he would be the soldier his grandfather wanted him to be. The "pre-invisible days", stated in the third paragraph of page 224, were the days before he learned to be recognized as a good nigger, in white society and thus gaining respect and receiving the rewards of a college scholarship.
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Acceptance Essays
