The narrator of "Battle Royal," lived his life under the illusion that everybody had an equal chance in life. He desperately wanted and tried to please everyone, thinking that if he did he would eventually rise and become somebody great. He was a great speaker and his speeches won him great recognition, but he did not realize that nobody took him seriously. He was trapped in a body of inferior qualities and would never amount to anything.
             The setting of "Battle Royal," was recently after slavery had been abolished. A time where blacks were free, but looked upon and treated with less than equality. The narrator was praised by the whitest of white men in the town, and looked upon as an example of desirable conduct. What he did not understand was that they did not think any more of him than any other black man, he was just another nigger to them.
             The magnificent blonde that paraded around the middle of the boxing ring was more than just amusement. This was everything that these black men wanted, but would never have. She represented the American dream of power, wealth, and fame. The narrator knew he could never have her, but he looked anyway. "Had the price of looking been blindness, I would have looked." Pg198. The author had devoted his life to pleasing the white men, so he could speak, to be somebody, but he would never amount to anything. He was their toy.
             The "Battle Royal," itself was a thorough example of the power that the white man had over the blacks. All ten of the boys were made to go through acts of humiliation before and after they had fought and made to wear blindfolds during the actual fight. The boys were degraded and humiliated throughout the whole event and didn't once think that they were being mistreated. They were scared of the white men and what might happen if they did not cooperate. The boys had been brought in to fight for th
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