1. “Battle Royal” is narrated by an older man looking back. He has to learn, for example, that he is “invisible.” What does he mean? How would the experience he relates help him to understand this?
2. Paraphrase the grandfather’s theory of behavior toward whites.
3. What does the narrator think of himself compared to the other participants?
4. The narrator enters the hotel with certain expectations. Were they met? What surprised him about the conduct of the town’s leading citizens? Who yells, “Bring up the little shines.”
5. What does the dancer represent? What’s tatooed on her belly? Why are they afraid to look? In what ways is the men’s treatment of the dancer analagous to their treatment of the boys?
6. What does the Battle Royal represent? The conscious dividing of the black community by the town’s leaders?
7. How eager were the attendeess to hear the narrator’s speech? What does he say that sounds threatening?
8. Does the scholarship excuse their behavior or does it represent another gesture of humiliation and oppression? Consider the superintendent’s words. What does he mean by “proper paths.” Do they intend to use him for their own purposes?
9. The narrator does not understand his dream that night. He will in time. How do you interpret it? What does the message in the envelope mean?