For two black males coming of age tends to be their major obstacle. Sonny lives in the North during the late 50s while the setting of Battle Royal takes place during the 30s in the South, both navigate their own paths to manhood trying to defy the expectations set before them. Being a young black male in the early 1900's was not an easy task, it was indeed an juggling act. So imagine the day to day life of a young man during the 30's, with racism roaring through the streets. Having to figure out a mindset that kept you safe and yet propelled you forward beyond the slave and master mentality was in fact what was so strenuous. The Ralph Ellison short story titled Battle Royal, is a great exemplary of this everyday struggle. "Leggo, nigger! Leggo!" (Ellison 238). In the quote above one can see that even the manner that a black person was spoken to was vulgar, and an as black person you had to know your place. .
In the work, the narrator (the grandson) starts out privileging the reader with a flashback of his grandfather on his death bed, with his last dying breaths the grandfather shocks his family with statement of his true intent and view toward the white man. ".I never told you, but out life is a war and i have been a traitor all my born days"(Ellison 230) , "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." (Ellison 230). The meaning to this statement was that in order for the grandfather to excel in his life he thought it to be wise to appear meek and soft spoken, the right hand man to a white man. He wanted to pass on the knowledge to his family that he was not some old man or a meek fool of a man but a wise listener of the times. He thought to use this 'good characteristic' to his advantage, taking on all the knowledge and secrets of the white man so that him and his legacy would not be ignorant.
