In Ralph Ellison' short story "Battle Royal," what is the significance of the fact that the narrator mixes up the terms "social responsibility" and...

The white
audience, which has been mocking the black narrator during his speech by having him repeat the
word "responsibility" over and over, falls ominously silent when he replaces
"responsibility" with "equality." They are not amused at all by the
substitution.

Though the narrator quickly corrects himself, the incident
shows that the white people who are "rewarding" him with a scholarship to a black
college and briefcase have no intention of granting him equality. In fact, they are hostile to
the idea and the whole evening reinforces the idea that they are keeping him in his
place.

Booker T. Washington used the term social responsibility rather than
social equality to try to accommodate whites. He knew how adverse most whites at the time were
to racial equality and tried to be meek so as not to inflame white anger. Social responsibility
was a code term, implying that black people wouldn't try to claim equality but would work hard
and try to make themselves useful to white people by...