Research Paper on:
Ralph Ellison, Toni Cade Bambara, and Minority Lessons of Their Works

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
the protagonists evaluate who they are and the position that they occupy in the society at large, and - most of all - whether or not they will accept this  position as it is given. In both cases, although the stories are very different, the reader knows that protagonist is irrevocably changed because of the "lessons" learned. Ellisons  short story is autobiographical and set in the 1950s, a time when black people either stayed within restrictive stereotypical behavior or they were subject to the vigilante violence of the  Klan. Ellison begins his narrative by relating the dying words of his grandfather, a man who has "gotten" along with whites his entire life. Ellisons grandfather confesses that he has  "been a traitor" all of his life and he t ells Ellisons father to "overcome em with yesses, undermine em with grins, agree em to death and destruction" (2319).  The entire family is somewhat perplexed by this deathbed change in attitude, and this is particularly true of young Ellison who does not know what to make of it at  all. Ellison has been taught his whole life to acquiesce and accommodate the extravagant demands of Southern whites, so his grandfathers words seem inexplicable to him. However, events in his  life service to start Ellison on the path to understanding. Ellison describes how the graduation speech that he gives at his high school commencement draws the attention of the  white community and gets him an invitation to deliver the speech at a gathering of the towns leading white citizens. On arriving at the meeting, Ellison discovers that some  of his schoolmates will be involved in what is called the "battle royal," which is slated as part of the entertainment, and he is told that since he is there