Comparing the Innocent Criminal in Black Boy, Uncle Tom's Children, Native Son, and Outsider

During the twentieth century, many African American writers wrote several texts that tell the story of their lives and experiences in the society that they had lived. This includes the author, Richard Wright who often wrote gruesome poems, criticisms of other African American writers, and short stories. Many of Wright’s text, like “Between Laughter and Tears,” “Between the World and Me,” and “The Library Card,” has challenged and reflected the brutal discrimination of African-American, socially, politically, and philosophically.

“Whenever my environment had failed to support or nourish me, I had clutched at books.” –Richard Wright, Black Boy. The author suffered and lived through an isolated society, where books were the only option for him to escape the reality of the world. Wright wrote this fictionalized book about his childhood and adulthood to portray the dark and cruel civilization and to illustrate the difficulties that blacks had, living in a world run by whites.

Douglass and Wright both experience similar reactions to their newly gained knowledge. After finding access to a library, Wright begins to read and learn more about different perspectives and the way others think. He eventually realizes, through his readings, that he is hurt by what he learns as is evident in quotation “But to feel that there were feelings denied me, that the very breath of life itself was beyond my reach, that more than anything hurt, wounded me,”

As Wright continued working, his “Jim Crow education” resumed (253), he learned that not listening to or obeying what a white person told you would lead to serious consequences. A lady was beat up by two white men simply because she didn’t pay her bills, “I heard shrill screams coming from the rear of the store. Later the woman stumbled out, bleeding, crying, and holding her stomach” (253). And if the beating wasn’t enough, a white cop was there waiting for her when she came out and she was thrown into his car after being accused of being drunk. After telling his friends about the horrendous incident, they weren’t shocked. In fact, they were surprised that that’s all they did to her and actually

Wright uses violent and fearful diction to inform the readers that conforming would result in physical or mental death. While thinking about the options he was in the South he said, “I could fight the southern whites […] If I fought

always been told what they can and cannot be because of the color of their skin. Many African

My attempt to comprehend the guiltless letters smothering the lifeless tree in my hands was of interruption as the bus flew over another speed bump. The predestined occurrence led to a sigh, Richard Wright’s autobiography, Black Boy, no longer in my hands, and the bus driver silently cursing under their breath once the rear end of the yellow mobile and a mailbox kissed. Contemplations about the book clouded my thoughts, but my hand didn’t have the audacity to pick up the autobiography and bring it to my eyes once more. Alternatively, I peered out of a dirty window and questioned the horrors previously read about Richard Wright’s childhood. ‘What exactly were his intentions?’, ‘Why were so many rhetorical devices used?’, and ‘When will racism

In 1940, Richard Wright wrote a book that later became one of the greatest novels of American Literature. The book focuses on a young black male who takes a terrible journey after killing a white woman out of fear. Foster writes, “Political writing that engages the realities of its world- that thinks about human

It was not until Wright and a few other black children got into a war with a few white children and came home bloody and beaten that he began to learn what racialization was (Wright, 1965, p. 23). This learning continued on for the rest of his life. From working at an optical company where he was chased out after a slight slip up (Wright, 1965, p. 26), to hearing a black woman be beaten by his boss at a clothing store (Wright, 1965, p. 27), and then to working as an assistant bell-boy at a hotel with prostitutes where he was not considered human (Wright, 1965, p. 29-30), racialization was everywhere for Wright. Omi and Winant write about racialization as an extension of racial meaning amongst relationships, social practices, and groups that were not previously racially classified (Omi and Winant, 1986, p. 16). Wright’s relationships with whites were nonexistent and there were many social practices he tried to follow but could not always do due to one reason or another.

Richard Wright’s autobiography, Black Boy, published in 1945, focuses on his journey as a young black male growing up in the South. Wright, born in 1908, details the struggles he experienced throughout his early life, allowing the reader to gain a wider understanding of this time period. He adopts the social critic mode, powerfully commenting on societal issues, especially concentrating on race, gender, and religion.

“You won’t be able to land a strike.” The woman said, attempting to dodge. “I’m much fast-”

I lunged toward the emergency break, but Glenda was quicker. Her shaky but steady hands slapped me right in the face. My eyes blazed with fury as I slapped her back trying to gain control of either the breaks or the wheel.

‘He’s not family. He’s not.’ Dibs gently sits down on the bed, her two hands clutched down beside her, as she looks down at her feet. ‘How could my own husband do this to me?’, she mutters. William sits down beside his mother, placing a hand upon her back. The two sit in silence for a moment, as they reflect on the words recently spoken. ‘I ain’t gonna let him have it, I tell ya,’ adds Dibs. ‘It’ll be okay, mum,’ William responds. ‘He doesn’t have a chance in hell getting this farm. No need to worry about it. Now how about a cuppa?’ William pats Dibs back, before the two lift to their feet, and head downstairs.

"It is probably a mere accident that I never killed," states Richard Wright during an interview. (Kinnamon 596) Often times, an alternative people would turn to would be violence in a way to escape the world they lived in, but one man held so much inspiration over a society that was and still is shaded by prejudice. What many fail to realize is one can transform the direction of the way society works simply by using words. Because of Richard Wright’s writing style, he depicts the racism and bigotry set in American society in his novel and writes this story by using examples of his personal experiences to create an impact for the later generations.

Richard Wright’s novel, Native Son, depicts the life of the general black community in Chicago during the 1930’s. Though African Americans had been freed from slavery, they were still burdened with financial and social oppression. Forced to live in small, unclean quarters, eat foods on the verge of going bad, and pay entirely too much for both, these people struggled not to be pressured into a dangerous state of mind (Bryant). All the while, they are expected to act subserviently before their oppressors. These conditions rub many the wrong way, especially Bigger Thomas, the protagonist of the story. Though everyone he is surrounded by is going through all the same things that he is, growing up poor and uneducated has made Bigger angry at the whole world. You can see this anger in everything he does, from his initial thoughts to his final actions. Because of this, Bigger Thomas almost seems destined to find trouble and meet a horrible fate. Wright uses these conventions of naturalism to develop Bigger’s view of the white community(). With all of these complications, Bigger begins to view all white people as an overwhelming force that drags him to his end. Wright pushes the readers into Bigger’s mind, thoroughly explaining Bigger’s personal decay. Even Wright himself says that Bigger is in fact a native son, just a “product of American culture and the violence and racism that suffuse it” (Wright).