f men who are there to watch a stripper and a "battle royal" between the narrator and another young man. The narrator describes the battle royal as a fight without rules – the fighters receive no breaks, and both of them are blindfolded. This battle introduces a theme that will be prevalent in the entire story – the struggle to be a successful black man in a world full of white roadblocks.
             Despite the embarrassment of the evening, he does receive a scholarship to a black college. During his time at college, the narrator continues to struggle with his inability to be accepted by whites. He tries to impress a rich white trustee named Mr. Norton, but ruins it by taking Norton to an unruly black bar called The Golden Day to get whiskey, where the man is greeted by mean-spirited veterans and hard-working prostitutes. The narrator hastily takes Norton back to the campus, where he is reprimanded by the administration for scaring a man who may have donated money to the campus. The narrator is then instructed to visit the chapel, where he hears a sermon given by Reverend Homer A. Barbee. Barbee speaks great words about Dr. Bledsoe, the president of the narrator's college. This uplifts the narrator'
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