The narrator in the" Battle Royal", Ralph Ellison is confused and disillusioned. He is a black man trapped in a world of cruelty and social inequality with nobody to guide him. He is being ripped apart in two directions by the advice of his grandfather and by the wishes of white society, which he longs to please. While attempting to satisfy their wishes, he loses two important things his identity and his own dignity.
             One can see how his grandfather's words can be confusing to a young boy: "Son, after I'm gone I want you to keep up the good fight. I never told you, but our life is at war and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy's country ever since I give up my gun back in the reconstruction. Live with your head in the lion's mouth. 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 bust wide open" (Ellison 449).
             "His grandfather's words confront him with the enigma of the contradiction between appearance and reality, mask and identity" (Busby 45). The narrator was never taught the meaning of his grandfather's words. He was left in the dark to ponder it's meaning, and his confusion left his mind in constant guilt and disillusionment. Eventually he learned the meaning of his grandfather's advice. He was following the advice that his grandfather meant, when he referred to the "good fight" (Ellison 449). However, there was one important issue he did not understand. In trying to impress the high standing white members of his community, he allowed them to take advantage of his ambition. He wanted to impress them because he felt they were the ones that mattered, and only their respect and admiration counted. This is exactly what Busby is stating that we need to put on a mask when we are with the whites. Their opinion did not matter bec...