"Battle Royal" is a reflective narrative. The unnamed narrator tells the story from some indeterminate point in the future. The central character of the story is the narrator as a young man, just out of high school. This young man sees himself as a would-be Booker T. Washington, a black man intent on making his way in a white world. He is defined by both his idealism and his ambition. He believes in his own freedom and, further, believes that the world is such that a young black man can find success.

At several points in the narrative one finds the story penetrated by the narrator's more worldly perspective, now at odds with his younger self. As the young man struggles to give his speech despite constant ridicule and a mouth full of blood, the narrator says "What powers of endurance I had during those days...