The hero's journey is a pattern commonly found in narratives throughout history involving the hero—the main character the story follows—and his or her growth as a character through a series of challenges and heroic triumphs. Ellison's "Battle Royal" is the first chapter of his novel Invisible Man, so unsurprisingly, it exhibits characteristics of the early stages of a hero's journey.
1. Introduction to Our Hero in the Ordinary World. The novel does not immediately begin at the center of the action. As is typical of a hero's journey, the first step in the story's progression is simply that we are introduced to our unnamed narrator, who tells us about his background growing up as a black youth during the turbulent time of the Reconstruction era, a time when America attempted to mend racial relationships and inequality, an attempt the novel ultimately suggests was unsuccessful. The narrator also recalls some advice his grandfather—a mentor-like figure—gave him before his death: "I want you to overcome 'em with yeses, undermine 'em with grins, agree 'em to death and destruction, let 'em swoller you till they vomit or burst wide open" (16). This advice is essentially an early call to action, a stage that typically comes later in a hero's journey, but we have to remember that it's a formula that won't fit every story perfectly. His grandfather's words are shockingly violent, a paradox of both passivity and aggression, calling upon his grandson to be overwhelmingly obedient and compliant to white people to the point that it becomes essentially harmful. With this call to action in our narrator's mind, he is ready for the next stage of a hero's journey.
2. Our Hero Encounters a Call to Adventure. After we are introduced to our hero and have a basic understanding of his situation, the story begins, and he is given the opportunity to act upon his grandfather's advice when thrown into a shocking, violent battle royal game in which whites blindfold him and other blacks and force them to have fighting matches in exchange for worthless coins. The scene is a horrific example of whites asserting they have superiority over blacks, and the narrator is thus presented with the choice to either resist their demands by refusing to participate or to follow his grandfather's advice and "overcome 'em with yeses'' by complying with their battle royal game.
3. Our Hero Hesitates. Another typical feature of a hero's journey is that the hero has a moment of resistance or hesitation when faced with the call to action, perhaps due to intimidation, uncertainty, or any number of emotions that might cause a person to resist taking an action. We see the narrator resist his call to action twice. The first time is when he is thrown into the battle royal game and fears it will go against the speech he later gives, wondering, "was not this a moment for humility, for non-resistance?" (25) He does, however, ultimately go through with the game, ironically not resisting whites while also resisting his black opponents by fighting them. In a way, he is following his grandfather's advice by technically complying with whites' demands of him, even though doing so makes him look anything but humble.
The second moment our hero hesitates is at his speech on the subject of the importance of black education and humility. Throughout his delivery, the audience stops him every few seconds and asks him to repeat what he's just said. After a while he has a moment when he "[wants] to leave but [he wants] also to speak and [he is] afraid they [would] snatch [him] down" (32). Ultimately, he answers his call to action and finishes his speech, complying with his grandfather's advice by agreeing with whites that social equality is a "mistake." He is then rewarded with a college scholarship, which sends him forward on his journey.
*Quotes taken from Vintage International Edition, 1995.
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