Bill Cosby, an influential black voice in America, says he doesn't "know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone." Ralph Ellison illustrates in the first chapter of his The Invisible Man, "Battle Royal", that even after eighty-five years of freedom from slavery, the willingness of blacks to respect silence and continue to meet the needs of everyone except their own allows whites to continue to use and define blacks by their own proprioms that have prevented blacks from advancing and living the American dream. “Battle Royal” conveys that the defects of self-denial are the causes of the struggle of a young black boy who strives to overcome the dehumanizing treatment of whites, which prevents him from determining his identity and achieving social equality in his attempt to realize the American dream. .“Battle Royal” expresses the need to find one's identity to access one's potential. The black narrator tries to find himself but cannot until he perceives himself as “an invisible man” (Ellison 227). As a first-person narrator, he allows you to better understand his character's thoughts and feelings while providing his personal perspective on the actions he endures. This access creates a sense of sympathy because he is an African American who is experiencing this dehumanizing struggle. This storytelling method also allows him to be unapologetic about his flaws. Constantly think about who to please. Whether to satisfy his grandfather's desire to “continue the good fight” or to act in opposition to the whites (227). The narrator blames his grandfather by claiming that his self-effacing actions to please whites "despite" himself (Ellison 227) are his grandfather's "curse" (Ellison 228) rather than...... middle of the paper.. . ...in his dream, his grandfather tells him to open the briefcase and read the letter that states "To Whom It May Concern, Make This Negro Boy Run" and he wakes up to his grandfather's laughter (Ellison 236). Although he has his scholarship, the satisfaction of his goal is not complete. White society constantly makes African Americans believe that they have a chance and that there is still hope and therefore they thrive on this hope which is still under the control of white society. White people will always exploit him and African Americans and will always constantly struggle to achieve and be someone of social equality. He and white society perceive him as an invisible man. It is a conflict between man and himself and his awareness that he is running away from himself and will continue to run blindly if he continues to allow society to demoralize his identity..