In the "Battle Royal" section of Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man, what are examples of tone, diction, and irony, particularly with respect to...

The “Battle Royal” episode of Ralph Ellison’s novel
Invisible Man can be examined in terms of such literary techniques
as irony, tone, and diction and also with regard to the theme of the influence of the
past on the future.

Ellison’s
diction (or choices of particular words) in this section is
especially worth noting. The “Battle Royal” episode is narrated in first person, by the
very character who experienced the events he describes. Therefore, the narrator’s word
choices inevitably reveal a great deal about his character and personality.  In general
his diction is clear, straightforward, and unpretentious.  The style he chooses
encourages us to trust him as a reporter of events, especially since he is willing to
criticize himself, as when he says,

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I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking
everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long
time and much painful boomeranging of my experiences to achieve a realization everyone
else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself. But first I had to
discover that I am an invisible
man!

The phrasing here is
clear and direct. Nothing in the diction is confusing or difficult to understand. The
narrator appears to be speaking honestly, especially about his past and
the influence of his past on his present and future. He reveals his
mistakes but also reveals that he has learned from them.  Without his realization of his
past mistakes (he implies), his present and future would be merely repetitions of his
past. However, he seems to have profited by realizing his errors. His
tone is humble, modest, and sincere. He doesn’t try to hide
his past errors. Instead, he implies that he has profited from them, and the implication
of this passage is that others can similarly profit from realizing and admitting their
own errors.

The diction of
these sentences consists of the kind of wording that practically any reasonably
intelligent reader can understand.  The narrator is not trying to impress us with big
words or complicated sentence structures.  He is not trying to show off his vocabulary. 
The word “boomeranging” is unusual, but its meaning is immediately clear. 
Irony is an important part of this quotation, since the
narrator thinks that he has had to learn, from painful experience, lessons that seem to
be innate to most people. Looking back on his earlier life, he is surprised by the
ironic fact that it appears to have taken him a long time to learn what other people
seem to know immediately.

Yet part of the further
irony of this passage, of course, is that most people can
instantly relate to the narrator’s feelings; most people, ironically, have gone through
the same kind of painful learning experience that he has endured, even though he
ironically thinks that they have not. Ironically, the very experience that he considers
uncommon is quite common indeed.  His assumption that it is not contributes to the
tone of the quoted sentences -- a tone which is modest and
humble and self-effacing.