In the first half of the 20th century, African-Americans were still fighting for equality and trying to overcome the legacy of slavery. Ralf Ellison wrote many stories exploring how African-Americans were trying to find their place in such a society. “Battle Royal” is the name of the first chapter of Ralph Ellison’s 1952 novel Invisible Man. This short story presents a startling scene of violence, naiveté and economic power—a scene that implies the philosophical depth behind the institutions of racism and the pathos of asserting an identity in the shadow of historical tragedy. The “Battle Royal” episode itself introduces many of the themes with which the narrator deals later in his life in the novel. In his short story, “Battle Royale”,
