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The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven, And The Things They Carried

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In “Battle Royal”, “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven”, and “The Things They Carried”, all three authors focus on the actions of the lead characters, and how the past reflects on their behavior and decisions in the present. These three stories have several things in common: The protagonists are haunted by someone or something, which causes their struggle with their self-identity. To be specific, the main characters are constantly troubled by a close one that they lost, and also by personal events, which then results in them being confused and lost on who they should be and how they should behave in society. “Battle Royal” by Ralph Ellison talks about a young, ginger-colored man, who feels contradicted on how he should act in a society where people of color are still oppressed, and at the same time where the word “equality” is a sensitive expression. The protagonist, who is remained nameless and “invisible” throughout the narrative, is the narrator of the whole story and he describes that, “He was an odd old guy, my grandfather, and I am told I take after him” (Ellison 1142). This points out that our young protagonist might have been a modest and timid person, because his grandfather “had been the meekest of men” (1142). Just before reaching his last breathe, his grandfather confesses about being a traitor and “a spy in the enemy’s country” (1142). To the protagonist, “It was as though he had not died at all, his words caused so much anxiety” (1143). His
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