His mouth filled with blood from the cut almost strangled him. “I spoke even louder despite the pain” (Ellison 234). But they still talked and laughed “as if they were deaf with cotton 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 in the end the narrator receives an envelope in his dreams from his grandfather which contains a letter written "To Whom It May Concern, Run that nigger boy” (Ellison 235). This just shows the significant struggle that African Americans had to endure. The white men basically said good job patting them on the back, but also said his speech wasn't enough. White men tried to rule African Americans by granting them certain rights, but never letting them truly live.