Preview

You Got to Do What You Got to Do, to Get Where You Got to Get

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
929 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
You Got to Do What You Got to Do, to Get Where You Got to Get
“You Got To Do What You Got To Do, To Get Where You Got to Get” In Ralph Ellison’s story “Battle Royal”, Ralph’s dying grandfather gives his son advice on how to advance in life as a black person, in the United States. Ralph’s grandfather said, “I want you to overcome ‘em with yeses, undermine ‘em with grins, agree ‘em to death…”(1042). Basically, by being really nice to white people, he could gain favor and possibly be rewarded for his obedience. Ralph, took his grandfathers advice, and was eventually invited to a meeting with important white people, to deliver a speech he had written for graduation. Once he arrived, he was forced to fight in a battle royal against his wishes. All he wanted to do through the whole ordeal was to deliver his speech. When the battle royal was over, and he had finished his speech, the superintendent presented him with a suitcase, with a scholarship to the state college for Negroes inside. If Ralph had decided not to take his grandfathers’ advice, he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to receive that scholarship. Even though Ralph was forced into fighting, he didn’t let his emotions take over him and cause him to defy the white people. So, yes Ralph’s grandfathers’ advice to his son, to advance through life with humility and submission was good. In the early 1900s, black people were economically challenged in the United States. They were also forced to go to second-rate schools because of the racial problems that existed. On top of that, they were constantly degraded by white people and were forced to submit to them, or they would face severe consequences. In order for a black person to advance in life, they had no other choice but to go to the white people for help, because they had all of the resources. In order to receive this help, you needed to be a special Negro. You needed to stand out amongst your peers, by doing the unthinkable at times. You needed be extra nice at all times. You needed to do things you really didn’t want
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    W. E. B. Dubois's 'The Souls Of Black Folk'
    • 197 Words
    • 1 Page

    W. E. B. Dubois's 'The Souls Of Black Folk'

    The depth of the impact that prejudice embarked on his life is the main focal point W.E.B. DuBois establishes in Chapter 1, paragraph 2 of his book The Souls of Black Folk. DuBois magnificently orchestrates an allure for the reader as he opens the paragraph with his earliest memory as a young lad. He reveals a story of how the attitude of one girl planted roots of discrimination deep down in his soul. As DuBois’s boyhood grew into adolescent youth, the feelings of social rejection were nourished with a longing for equal treatment among the white community. Every event blossomed into an opportunity of challenge as he persevered to surpass his white opponents. He relished in self-gratification with every successful achievement. As a mature…

    • 197 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    A Comparison between The Welcome Table and What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl
    • 1793 Words
    • 8 Pages

    A Comparison between The Welcome Table and What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl

    Such racism and discrimination actions are also witnessed in the poem “What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl” by Smith which elaborates how she faced very many challenges after being born and brought up in white society (Griffins, 2006). In this poem, Smith elaborates how hard it is for a black lady to be brought up in a white community. She moves further to explain the conflicts and challenges that faces a black girl from childhood to…

    • 1793 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Battle Royal Discussed
    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Battle Royal Discussed

    Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal” is about how when he was a young African American male he was asked to attend a gathering of the elite white males of society to reiterate a graduation speech he had given at his own graduation. Upon going to the gathering the young boy is face with the games the white men insist he take part in with others of his same race, which the main game is the “Battle Royal” (1043 ). After being forced to take part in some demeaning games the young man, Mr. Ellison himself, is then asked to give his speech that was about how African Americans should act with in society. Upon giving his speech again he begins to awaken to the truth about racial equality, segregation, and humbleness. At first glance one might take this story as a random glimpse into racism of the early 19th century endured by a young boy, but that young man represents black Americans as a whole and the inner battle of how to overcome the suppression of racism and still be true to who they are without becoming invisible in a white man’s society.…

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    State Of Confusion In Ralph Ellison's Battle Royal
    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages

    State Of Confusion In Ralph Ellison's Battle Royal

    Ralph Ellison begins the short story, “Battle Royal”, in some what of a state of confusion. The nameless narrator informs the reader that he has been essentially lost in the early twenty years of his life. The narrator’s grandfather adds to his confusion and the overall purpose of the story. While on his death bed, the grandfather claims to be a traitor and a spy. He charges his family to “overcome ‘em with yeses“(258, paragraph 2) and “undermine ‘em with grins”(258, paragraph 2) as he lays preparing for death. A point that the narrator subconsciously internalized, the reader sees through the series of actions and point of view of the narrator the use of role playing among blacks. For if this method is followed, blacks…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of Creating Black Americans: African-American History
    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Summary Of Creating Black Americans: African-American History

    They established themselves in the professional world, as well as in the music and sports industries. In chapter 8, Painter depicts the movement of African Americans when she says, “In the depths of the era of Jim Crow, however, African Americans squeezed through every opening freedom afforded, to gain autonomy and education” (Painter 185). She is showing even through the Jim Crow laws that were passed to limit blacks, they were able to push through and strive and earn their way up. The issue is that with every African American accomplishment, the southerners were always there trying to limit them. Like in chapter 7, as soon as the blacks started to be successful, the idea of lynching came into play and now once again innocent blacks could be brutally killed and hung and lynched.…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Robert Coover Stick Man Essay
    • 2104 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Robert Coover Stick Man Essay

    When African Americans first began their so-called normal lives, it was widely unaccepted by whites in the rest of the country. Their intent was to live among everyone in peace and equality. But because they were different and thought to be inferior, people were unsure and uncomfortable with their presence. Similarly, this…

    • 2104 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    W. E. B Dubois The Souls Of Black Folk Analysis
    • 888 Words
    • 4 Pages

    W. E. B Dubois The Souls Of Black Folk Analysis

    W.E.B Du Bois wrote “The Souls of Black Folk” that explained what life was like to be a black American in 1903. Du Bois details the internal struggle of being a darker skin tone in a white society. Africans were brought to America solely for slavery; even after slavery was abolished African Americans were still treated differently. Thus, the “color line” emerged. Blacks were separated from whites and treated unequally to their white counterparts. Du Bois further details a “veil” that black Americans were put into. The “veil” is a concept that describes how black Americans felt in society. Blacks were unable to feel a part of society because of the way whites still viewed them as slaves. Blacks also felt they could not be true Americans because of the circumstances that lead them there (Du Bois 1903). The internal struggle of being different within society caused turmoil…

    • 888 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Color Complex: How Skin Color Affects African Americans
    • 3571 Words
    • 15 Pages

    The Color Complex: How Skin Color Affects African Americans

    Intra-racial discrimination has been an ever-present issue for African Americans. It dates as far back as the antebellum period in America when African slaves were raped by their White masters. This new “race” multiplied in numbers to create the new “black bourgeoisie,” which served as a buffer between the African American community and the Whites, and further placed dark-skinned people as the lower inferior group (Frazier 215-17). The light complexion of this group allowed Whites to feel comfortable, yet never overlooking their African ancestry. The dark-skinned slaves thought that their light-skinned counterparts felt they were superior, so they developed hatred towards light skinned blacks, as well as a growing hatred for their own dark skin. In Wallace Thurman’s The Blacker the Berry, the protagonist, “Emma Lou” comments on a new acquaintance, “Hazel,” as she registers for classes at the University of Southern California:…

    • 3571 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Southern Citys 1920-1930s
    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Southern Citys 1920-1930s

    Racism was one of the awful things happening in America, and it wasn’t just focused on African Americans. Discrimination was to any minorities or even religions such as catholic or jews. There was groups who focused on this, but the biggest and best known was the the Ku Klux Klan. The klan was all about white American supremacy but other than that The Klan also promoted fundamentalism and devout patriotism along with advocating white supremacy. They blasted bootleggers, motion pictures and promised a return to clean living. The KKK was in its height around this time. In the middle on the 1920’s it is estimated that 3 to 8 million white Americans were a member of the klan. During this time the klan lynched many people and put fear in minority’s all over the southern states. This is one of the many obstacle African Americans faced in the south, other then of course racisms finding a job, housing, public property’s, no colors allowed was everywhere. This was a very uneasy time with riots breaking out, such as the Tulsa riot.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Sociology: Black Like Me
    • 1714 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Sociology: Black Like Me

    A lack of education led the blacks to poverty and they struggled every day just to survive. They were limited in the paths they could take, forcing many to hustle on the streets or worse. It was not that they chose this, but due to society’s lack of choices for them.…

    • 1714 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Souls Of Black Folk Essay
    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Souls Of Black Folk Essay

    In the book, The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Du Bois illustrates the problems African Americans faced during the twentieth century. This was such an eye opener story to most readers influenced by his words no matter what your race you are, black or white. Du Bois says, the “problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line.”( Du Bois 9) This thought and idea is shown throughout the entire book. What Du Bois is directing this toward is the time after the Civil War and how divided the country was. The “color line” divided the whites and blacks and the discrimination blacks in this time was a vast issue. Du Bois portrays the storyline of the challenges he faced and overcame in the American culture.…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Literary Analysis Of Black Like Me
    • 895 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Literary Analysis Of Black Like Me

    "You take a young white boy. He can go through school and college with a real incentive. He knows he can make good money in any profession when he gets out. But can a Negro- in the South? No, I've seen many make brilliant grades in college. And yet when they come home in the summers to earn a little money, they have to do the most menial work. And…

    • 895 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    American Idealism Analysis
    • 2001 Words
    • 9 Pages

    American Idealism Analysis

    Privileged whites in America were still looking down at the blacks and young black poets writing reflects this. Langston Hughes “Let America Be America again”, tells us of the way the blacks wanted to be treated and how each were promised their America when the civil war ended along with slavery. In the poem the lines 31-35 speak of how black were still being treated, “I am the farmer, the bondsman to the soil, I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-Hungry yet today despite the dream”. (Hughes) This speaks of how the black person felt everybody was still being treated and how each one were continually being treated specially during the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s. Unfortunately, today blacks are not treated much better and still have to face prejudice. There is a parallel how the blacks were viewed as subservient, much as the soldiers were in Catch-22. Blacks and the soldiers were both told what to do and did not have the freedom to go wherever without fear of punishment. During slavery, plantation owners’ viewed the slaves as property. The slaves that ran away and were caught were whipped. The soldiers who went AWOL were court marshaled. The treatment of blacks still needs to improve and this will not be an…

    • 2001 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    New Negro Movement
    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages

    New Negro Movement

    Before the new negro movement World War I, made blacks think about the nature of their citizenship. Although the war didn’t change how blacks were treated it did change the way many of them thought about their conditions, their duties and privileges of citizenship. Whites separated themselves from blacks because they thought they were better. This caused blacks to lose trust in whites and be disloyal, but they couldn’t. African American’s during this time didn’t have a choice because they felt like they had no voice or place in society based upon how they were being treated. Black people during this time wanted to be accepted by whites…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Noah's Ark Analysis
    • 1363 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Noah's Ark Analysis

    For many black Americans, the 1920’s became a period of retrospection and evaluation of who they were and what their new role would be in American society. The use of the “New Negro” trope was to differentiate contemporary black Americans from the perceived “Old Negro” stereotype. Beginning in the mid-1800’s, American minstrel shows perpetuated the “Old Negro” stereotype which became “more of a myth than a man.”10 White actors would wear black stage make-up and perform a mockery of what was believed Negro behavior.11 The term “New Negro” was to help black Americans remove themselves from the “ignorant, happy-go-lucky” and “the supposed naive and simple-minded”12 stereotype. The new and contemporary black Americans saw themselves as a valuable…

    • 1363 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More

Related Topics