Battle Royale

The speaker says that he was "naive" (line 4) in that he

• cound the answers of others contradictory

• recognized that he had to discover his own invisibility

• expected that others would be able to tell him who he really was

• was embarrassed at having been ashamed to be descended from slaves

• was "looking for myself" (lines 4-5

In the context of the passage, the speaker asserts that he is "invisible" (line 9) especially to

• "our whole community"

• his grandfather

• the "lily-white men of the town" (lines 44-45

• his parents

• the audience at the graduation speech

The phrase "no freak of nature, nor of history" (line 10) is the best understood to imply that the speaker sees himself as

• free of any legacy from his ancestors

• a natural consequence of teh historical forces of the mid-nineteenth century

• destined to be an unusual departure from what would be normal for the era

• different from most other young people in his search for his own identity

• having been confused in his youth by the lack of consistent advice he received

When the speaker says he was "in the cards" (line 10), he means

• his freedom was in question

• his makeup and his very being had been decided

• his grandfather had predicted his birth

• he was involved in gambling

• he was reading about history

The simile of "the fingers of the hand" (line 16) refers most directly to the phrase

• the "boomeranging of my expectations" (line 7)

• "nobody but myself" (line 8)

• "no freak of nature" (line 10)

• "in the cards" (line 10)

• "(or unequal)" (line 11)

All of the following reflect some result of the grandfather's advice to "live with your head in the lion's mouth" (lines 24-25) EXCEPT

• "I could never be sure of what he meant"

• "It had a tremendous effect upon me"

• "I was carrying out his advice in spite of myself"

• "Grandfather had been a quiet old man"

• "The old man's words were like a curse"

The passage employs all of the following contrasts EXCEPT one between

• the speaker and his grandfather

• the different answers the speaker gets from those trying to help

• the speaker's trying both to fulfill the expectations of others and to be himself

• the grandfather's life and his dying words

• what the "white folks" wanted and what they thought they wanted

The grandfather uses the pronoun "em" (lines 25-26) to refer to

• the powerful whites and their allies

• the principles of living honorably

• the principles of living dishonorably

• the "fingers of the hand"

• the speaker's parents, including the grandfather's own son

The passage is developed chiefly through

• definition with an extended example

• comparative sermons

• classification and division

• stream of consciousness

• exposition and narrative

When the speaker says "Everyone loved me for it," (line 44) "it" refers to

• feeling guilty and uncomfortable

• the "constant puzzle" in the back of his mind

• forgetting what his grandfather had said

• carrying out his grandfather's advice

• "learn[ing] it to the younguns"