Battle Royal

In 'Battle Royal' the scene where all the men were scrappling for the money on the electric carpet symbolized false hope. What really 'excited [him]... were the gold pieces' (303). This symbolized the thought of freedom from slavery. Thinking that he could have a chance to grab some extra money, but leaving him electrocuted and with a few spare coins. This symbolized how the slaves thought that they would be freed and have just as many rights as the white people, but when slavery was abolished, they still were not treated as well as the white people.
Once the narrator looked closely at the coins, he figured out that they 'were brass pocket tokens advertising a certain make of automobiles' (306). This is like once slaves were set free, they still had to listen to the white man and follow him orders, like the abolishment of slavery, coins, barely meant anything at all.
This portion of the text helps to construct a storyline of American past and history.