Southern Issues"Just because something is traditional is no reason to make it, obviously." -Lemony Snicket. “Battle Royal” is a Ralph Ellison story that explores the South through the life of a black teenager haunted by his grandfather's last words. A Rose for Emily is a short story by William Faulkner that recalls the life and death of Emily Grierson, a strange resident of a small town. In both of these stories, decadence, tradition, and betrayal overwhelm the South, trampling any potential moral justice. In the South right now, morality is rare. Instead, a great love of pleasure, money and fame fills communities and inhabits its residents. This decadence exists in both “Battle Royale” and “A Rose for Emily” and plays an important role in the main character's life. In “Battle Royal,” the Invisible Man is forced into brutal combat and slandered with humiliation in his quest to pursue a better future. Decadence is present in men who demonstrate their social and wealthy status by dehumanizing blacks and fighting them as one would animals. The Invisible Man tries to please white men but states that he is "not ashamed of his grandfathers for having been slaves. He is only ashamed of himself for 'having once been ashamed'" (227). At this point slavery in the South was over, but equality was clearly far from being achieved. "A Rose for Emily", Emily Grierson is raised in a sheltered manner, because her father proved decadent by rejecting any man as her suitor. He was exempt from taxes because the colonel Sartoris invented a story that "Miss Emily's father had lent money to the town." .. l us, "then we noticed a second indentation of a head on the other pillow" and the room looked like the one surrounding the time of a wedding. For this reason, it is possible to deduce that Homer would not have married Emily, forcing her to cheat himself and herself in the process killing him. Southern issues existed in the past and still exist today. Decadence, betrayal and tradition still remain, neglecting the morals and values ​​that the South should achieve. In both of these tales, Southern issues cause suffering and pain to the main characters. The setting of these stories is significant in how the South had problems that caused the surrounding characters to behave. Emily Grierson and the Invisible Man were different, but also similar. With different backgrounds and different family structures, they still experience the same issues as the South.