Richard Wright's Big Boy Leaves Home Essay

At a first glance, the title “Big Boy Leaves Home” gives the impression of a male maturing leaving home and going on a journey to the real world. But that is far from the actual reason behind the name, being lynched is the real reason why Big Boy has to leave his home. Though Big Boy is a young kid, it still did not excuse him from experiencing the unreasonable use of violence of whites towards African-Americans during the Jim Crow time period. Big Boy experiences the unreasonably use of violence when the lynch mob captures his friend Bobo and a person in the mob states that, “Ah wanna be the first T put a rope on tha black bastards neck” (Wright). After the brutal murder of his his dear friend Bobo, Big Boy ultimately "had no feelings now, no fears” which is stunning considering he was only a child (Wright).

“Big Boy,” written by Jesse Hill Ford, is a short story about Hake, the father of Big Boy, Mrs. Morris, “Big Boy’s” mother, and Lawyer Hedgepath. Hedgepath is from a wealthy part of town and comes to visit the Morris’s in the “biggest car ever made” (Ford 39). Hake is frightened at first but then proud to be associated with Hedgepath. Hedgepath’s presence influences Hake’s decision to allow “Big Boy” to play football. Hedgepath entices “Big Boy” to move to the city with hopes of going to a big college and becoming a part of a higher class. Hake allows “Big Boy” to play football because Hake is frustrated with his social status and influenced by a wealthy man.

This shaped his coming of age and his outcome by showing that with other blacks, Bigger is bullying, surly, treacherous, and cowardly. When he is around with whites he is understandably, cautious and deceitful. He shows that he wants to be respectful around whites because he did not want to get into trouble. The three sections in the book his outcome. It shows how he act in fear, flight and fate. This develops Bigger’s thought and emotions to shape his outcome and coming of age. This makes the readers understand what Bigger is feeling. This make us understand what went through his head when the events were occurring.

In Richard Wright’s Native Son, the book is split into three books. The first 2 books focus mainly on the suspense and tensions rising within Bigger’s life and finally in the last book he dies. The dramatic conflict of Native Son takes place chiefly within the mind of Bigger Thomas, who lives in a world of whites, blacks , or reds. To Bigger all of life is conflict and issues that is defined by the color of your skin with the whites being higher up. The tensions within the book can be comparable to fire and ice as each element possess traits which can be seen as metaphors within the novel Native son by Richard Wright and his essay of “How Bigger was Born”.

Bigger is oppressed by racism in the 1930s. In the 1930s the color of a person’s skin defined them. Bigger being a black male defines him as a lesser man than a white man. People of color are reduced to live in the South Side of Chicago. Bigger, his mom, and two siblings live in a dirty

Some cultural studies about “A Man Who Was Almost a Man” by Richard Wright, put an intense stress on this idea of knowing who one is because the main character like David Saunders who was struggling to know who exactly who he was. He felt that with a gun he could prove to people in his town that he was a man. It showed that he has some sort of power and can take care of himself. Richard Wright, the author, was also from the south and he too was hurting from an identity crisis. This identity crisis forced him to leave his small town due to the Jim Crow laws which is during this time period. He left to find his own true self, because it is important to know who you are before you define or describe someone else. Clearly, David Saunders and Richard Wright have some similarities. Using racial-cultural criticism, consider Richard Wright’s short story by using the setting and cultural aspects through the social status of the main character, character relationships through family, and character relationships through the race.

If the train were using the rails that were a block and a half from our homes, we’d be stuck. Luckily, we heard it coming, blaring its warning as it approached the mill. We ran top speed across the fields and around the piles of old bricks to be across the tracks before it blocked our path.

Big Boy, an overgrown black teenager that lands himself in the crosshairs of racial prejudice after killing a white man, struggles through multiple obstacles to escape the Deep South and head to the North. After having spent the night in the kiln and fighting off a snake and a dog, Big Boy boards a truck headed for, presumably, Chicago. However, Wright creates uncertainty for Big Boy’s future even if he does reach the North, let alone Chicago itself. Big Boy has no finances, no shelter, nor from the reader’s understanding, extended family outside of the South. At the end of the story, “The truck sped over the asphalt mines, sped northward, jolting him, shaking out of his bosom the crumbs of corn bread, making them dance with the splinters and sawdust in the golden blades of sunshine” (Wright 53). The crumbs of the corn bread “shaking” out demonstrate the mental growth and emotional hardening that Big Boy obtained from his life-threatening situations the previous night but also as a symbol of “shaking” out the last of home and starting

The ability to possess independence is glorified by Dave is a force that will entitle him as a man. The train represents an opening opportunity for him to change his life by putting an end to the mistreatment he suffers from in his community, whether he hops into one of the cars or simply runs in front of it. For his own sake, Dave hops into one of the cars because he has fate that there’s still a chance for him to acquire the freedom of a man. This action illustrated by Dave shows that he is continuing on his voyage to gain independence by composing a decision to benefit himself. Dave’s ability to make his own decision shows the reader he’s going on the right path to accomplish his objective. He wants his suffering to stop which is the reason why he takes such a revolutionary action. Dave foresees a much brighter future hitching a ride on the back of the train since he possesses the possibility of being viewed as a self-sufficient man by the people of wherever his destination will be. While observing the short story more closely the reader is able to understand the significance of the symbolism of the train. Looking into the story in such depth allows the reader to make a connection between the train and Dave’s destiny. This connection shows the reader that trains are a symbol of the opportunity has Dave to escape his hometown and to make his dream of independence become a

At the front of the train resides the God like creator of the train, followed by his security of the train and wealthy patrons, the middle including municipal services, ending with the untouchables at the tail end of the train. I see this as an exact mirror image of our capitalistic society that we have today. The conductors and wealthy people signify our 1st class, the municipal services our 2rd class, and the untouchables our 3rd class. Why don’t the people revolt? As much as the conditions on the train for those in the tail are unfair and disgusting, it is the compromise that has to be made for survival.

There are also allusions to Bigger's thoughts of violence: "He felt suddenly that he wanted something in his hand, something solid and heavy: his gun, a knife, a brick." Such pervasive violence has disturbed many readers. Wright conveyed, in "How Bigger was Born," his belief that placing a group of oppressed people in a savage environment, like the ghetto, is an invitation for more Bigger Thomases. (“Native Son”)

The train, combined with its passengers and crew, symbolizes the elite part of the population of the Earth. It is is a marvel of technological thought and a peak of scientific progress, it does not need external sources of fuel, and is able to go on for decades, despite the extremely harsh conditions outside, that is, an arctic cold climate and total ruin

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).

As soon as the novel was distributed, American culture was definitely stunned. It is the part of the white population and how they oppressed the black population .In the meantime, it additionally disturbs American dark men by making them understand the substantial expense for obeying and bearing the decision of the white people for so long. In this novel, one can notice the variety of the genres except bildungsroman, such as violence, murder, communism, and rape. The novel is considered as social protest novel that wants to raise awareness to youth black community to avoid mistakes that Bigger made in his life and made him regret. As an example of bildungsroman genre, we can argue that there is a growth and development but without the normal results. Bigger is considered as an anti-hero and doesn’t get into maturity until late on while he is in the prison, in where he has the willingness to live longer after rethinking the mistakes that put him in that badly for him position. Of course, the novel can be educated for many people, black and white. For black people should be a bad example of how to act against discrimination, while for white people should depict how racial discrimination from white population during the middle 20th century created behaviors like Bigger’s. The

In Richard Wright’s Native Son, Bigger Thomas attempts to gain power over his environment through violence whenever he is in a position to do so.