HCCS The Battle Royal Theme of Racial Inequality Suffering and Oppression Discussion

In the short story “Battle Royal,” we are introduced to the narrator of Ellison’s larger work as he attends a party thrown by some white elite members of the community for the young black men graduating high school. The party, ostensibly thrown in celebration of the boys’ achievement, devolves into a myriad of symbols and metaphors for racism, oppression, gaslighting, and other elements of the Jim Crow south.

A key element in this story is the recollection of our narrator’s dying grandfather’s speech where he instructs his grandson to live with “his head in the lion’s mouth,” and other words of advice to navigate the racist white world that he is leaving and his grandson is entering.

What do you think the significance of these last words is? What do they say about the nature of regret? How about the understanding and confrontation of power? Think more deeply about race and racism – what do we learn about what it means to truly experience these things from the dying grandfather’s words?

You don’t need to answer every question. Make a discussion post that comes out of your reading and thinking about these elements. Make sure you also respond to two classmates’ posts as well!

story link: https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/selena.anderson/…