t more painful to go through with it in the already disturbing circumstances . But he doesn't care . Blinded by his eagerness to succeed he gratefully accepts the briefcase and the scholarship he is given after the speech . "I was so moved that I could hardly express my thanks " (458 ) Ellison has his hero write . The black boy does not see that these people are not interested in him getting an education but in controlling him . Some believe that through difficulty and oppression, people are truly able to find themselves. In my opinion . in the case of the main character in this short story , this is completely true and through his experiences he has been able to discover himself and the reality around him . He goes through that moment of insight , discovery , revelation by which his life is greatly altered ( epiphany ) . The black boy tries to accomplish his goal of succeeding in life by adhering to his grandfather's dying words : "Live with your head in the lion's mouth . I want you to overcome 'em with yeses , undermine 'em with grins , agree 'em to death and destruction , let 'em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open " (449 ) . Grandfather was telling him to conform to white people because in that time that was the only way to excel . But he also said that he , who was "a quiet old man that never made any trouble" , was "a traitor and a spy( 449 ). At the beginning of the story the narrator is not sure what the meaning of those words is . They haunt him throughout the story and eventually become clear in his dream in the end (epiphany) . In the dream, he is in a circus where he does not laugh at ...
