Racism Exposed In Richard Wright's Black Boy

As the reader notices, Big boy does not have a real true name.Wright does this to show how stereotypical it was for blacks to not have true names and how the culture that black humans were in and looked at as lower in status then whites. Wright’s story "Big Boy Leaves Home" shows how not only African Americans grown-ups were badly stereotyped but how also adolescent African Americans were discriminated just as bad during the Jim Crow Era.Even when Big Boy and his friends are walking through the woods having fun and blaming each other, the fear of the whites is still in their minds and for good reason.

Every young man struggles with his inner character. Choosing how he carries himself around others and even himself is a snapshot of how he will be as not only a husband but as a father. In “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin, he is conflicted with the problems of racism during the 1950’s, striving not to become the man his father was, and trying to figure out who he is as an individual. These things are what empowers him to write this essay. Baldwin’s conundrum is fueled the turmoil of self and living in a racist society throughout this story.

For my research project I chose the topic of Racism in Children's Literature. I chose this area of study because it is something that bothers me and I know as a child in school I was very uncomfortable with assignments that dealt with racism. One day I would like to make a difference to all the people who are affected by racism. My hypothesis states that if educators are better trained to deal with the delicate subject of racism in children's literature, books would not be banned, yet actually teach the lesson the authors of these books intended for all of us to learn.

2. The novel “Black Boy” by Richard Wright is structured into twenty chapters and two parts. Part one is about Richard Wright childhood and growing up in a difficult time where whites are cruel to all African Americans. Part two focuses more on Richard’s life as an adult and how he struggles to maintain a good job. The story starts from when he is a young child and to when he is an adult.

As generations have passed, society has become less and less racist. From a young age, many children are taught to celebrate diversity. This instills a sense of being able to love everyone, regardless of skin color or race. But a little over half a century ago, it was a completely different story. There was segregation present in buses, water fountains, and even bathrooms; this was all due to assumptions people made, just based on someone else’s skin color. To add on to the list, parents instilled racism in their children in multiple ways. Records of inequality and racism can be seen in literature from that period of time. Recitatif by Toni Morrison shows how this tragic situation was

“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.

Black people, even today, are subject to racially motivated violence and discrimination in their everyday lives. In the 20th century this kind of treatment was accepted and even at times prompted by authorities. Back then, brutal murders of black men, women, and children

Black Boy is an autobiography of Richard Wright who grew up in the backwoods of Mississippi. He lived in poverty, hunger, fear, and hatred. He lied, stole, and had rage towards those around him; at six he was a "drunkard," hanging about in taverns. He was surrounded on one side by whites who were either indifferent to him, pitying, or cruel, and on the other by blacks who resented anyone trying to rise above the common people who were slaves or struggling.

Today racism is seen all around the world within different religions, beliefs and backgrounds. However, in the early nineteen hundreds, specifically the 1920s to the 1930s racism was prevalent between the White and Blacks. African-Americans were sold as slaves, beaten, murdered and lynched as a result of Caucasians believing that they were the superior race. Toni Morrison's novels, Sula, shares the story of Sula Peace and Nel Wright’s friendship, the challenges they are faced with and the impact of social implications. Comparably, in Richard Wright’s Native Son, follows the life and trial of twenty year old African-American Bigger Thomas who kills a white woman, providing insight into what was expected from and thought about African-Americans. In Sula, Toni Morrison focuses not only on racism between opposing backgrounds and how it influences social implications, but shows that racism does not exist through segregation alone but within the same community. Richard Wright's Native Son, explores how the segregation and oppression between the black and white community influence violence and social expectations. Through the use of juxtaposition and symbolism both authors highlight the implications racist attitudes have on the characters during the time period in which the novels are set.

Richard Wright uses language in his novel, Black Boy, as a source to convey his opinions and ideas. His novel both challenges and defends the claim that language can represent a person and become a peephole into their life and surroundings. Richard Wright uses several rhetorical techniques to convey his own ideas about the uses of language.

Racism is the belief that innate differences between races dictate cultural achievement and includes the idea that one race is above another. This is a universal problem and is the root of discrimination. Lately, police officers face accusations of racial profiling and being responsible for several unjust murders. The deaths that are due to the victims’ skin pigment recognize that social oppression is an active practice. In the book A Lesson Before Dying, author Ernest Gaines reveals how racism is an oppressive force through multiple characters and situations.

The anger and amusement that James Baldwin feels throughout his visit to a Swiss village develop into deeper thoughts about the history of African Americans. The unintentional racism that he faced in the small village led to his awareness of how degrading thoughts of non-whites occur in parts of the world outside of the U.S. “Stranger in the Village” ends with the strong statement, “This world is white no longer, and it will never be white again.”(8) This essay shows how much history can affect the way people treat other races and other

Richard Wright experienced a life plagued by an ancient and steadfast tradition of prejudice and hate. For eons, humans have hated one another because of differences and changes others might bring to their world. Richard lived in an atmosphere where he was endangered for being who he was, simply because of his skin. Now, in current times we have seen the human race take humongous steps toward racial equality and dampening the hate our species has been so notorious for. Humans of ancient history lived with it, Richard lived with it and feared it, and we today live with it ourselves: an incurable human disease known as hate and prejudice.

Richard Wright’s memoir Black Boy (American Hunger): A Record of Childhood and Youth recounts the author’s personal experience growing up as an African American male in the Jim Crow South, as well as his initial years in the North in the late 1920s. While it is a personal account of one man’s life in this time period, Wright’s memoir also sheds light on the broader role of black men in American society in the early twentieth century, particularly with respect to race, gender, and class relations. By no accident, insight on these relations can be gleaned from the title of Wright’s memoir itself. I argue that Wright chose the provocative title Black Boy (American Hunger): A Record of Childhood and Youth in order to both utilize shock

Black Boy is a denunciation of racism and his conservative, austere family. As a child growing up in the South, Richard Wright faced constant pressure to submit to white authority, as well as to his family’s violence. However, even from an early age, Richard had a spirit of rebellion. His refusal of punishments earned him harder beatings. Had he been weaker amidst the racist South, he would not have succeeded as a writer.