His mouth full of blood from the cut nearly strangled him. “I spoke even louder despite the pain” (Ellison 234). But they continued to talk and laugh “as if they were deaf with cotton wool in their dirty ears” (Ellison 234). This is significant because the narrator implies that no matter how hard he tries to prove his worth, they will only see a worthless black man who is only good for picking cotton. He was given a briefcase and congratulated on his speech, but eventually the narrator receives in his dreams an envelope from his grandfather containing a letter written "To Whom It May Concern Keep This Negro Boy Running" (Ellison 235) . This simply demonstrates the significant struggle that African Americans have had to endure. The white men basically said good job with a pat on the back, but they also said his speech wasn't enough. White men tried to govern African Americans by giving them certain rights but never letting them be truly true