Richard Write: A Southern Writer Essay

In Richard Wright’s novel, Black Boy, Richard is struggling to survive in a racist environment in the South. In his youth, Richard is vaguely aware of the differences between blacks and whites. He scarcely notices if a person is black or white, and views all people equally. As Richard grows older, he becomes more and more aware of how whites treat blacks, the social differences between the races, and how he is expected to act when in the presence of white people. Richard, with a rebellious nature, finds that he is torn between his need to be treated respectfully, with dignity and as an individual with value and his need to conform to the white rules of society for survival and acceptance.

Throughout the book, Richard shows ignorance when it comes to race issues. He often doesn't know how to respond or act when he is being harassed about his race. This ignorance comes from his family refusing to tell him about what was happening in the world when he was a child. At one point, his mother even slapped him for asking about why there was segregation and about why his grandmother is “white” (46-48). These events and actions in his youth would lead to him being ignorant of these issues in his adulthood, which would lead to Richard being isolated from both the black and the white communities. First, one example of his separation from the black community is when Richard refuses to steal from white people. “More than once I had been called a ‘dumb nigger’ by black boys who discovered that I had not availed myself of a chance to snatch some petty piece of white property that had been carelessly left within my reach”(199). The other boys call Richard out because he refuses to steal. He does this because he was raised not to steal from white people while the other boys were raised to take advantage of their position in life and use it to their advantage. This gap between knowledge of how one should act leads to Richard being isolated from the other boys and others in the black community. Likewise, Richard ignorance of race issues leads to a rift between him and the white community.

The next form of hunger that Richard encountered was one for literature which seemed to give him a release from the suffocating reality of his surroundings. His appetite for literature became a defining characteristic as the novel progressed. Though her effort was short-lived, a boarder at his Grandma’s house, Ella, gave him his first taste of reading. “As her words fell upon my new ears, I endowed them with a reality that welled up from somewhere within me…. My sense of life deepened…. The sensations the story aroused in me were never to leave me” (Wright 39). In light of Richard’s continued pursuit for knowledge critic Dykema-VanderArk reflects that, “Richard's reading opens his eyes… ‘made the look of the world different’ and let him imagine his life under different circumstances. Richard eventually recognizes that the social system of the South strives to keep black Americans from just such ways of thinking.” His craving for literature sets him apart from most of the black community surrounding him.

Richard Wright’s theme in Black Boy is that of survival. In his autobiography, he struggles to pull through life by rebelling. He rebels in many ways. In the first stage of his life, when he is just a young boy he often rebels against his parent’s authority. When he is a young adolescent, he rebels against being beat unfairly or into submission. As a young man, he fights against the Southern way of African American life. As Richard Wright grows, his rebellious acts grow larger and more daring in order to survive the harsh Jim Crow life of the South.

“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.

In Black Boy, Wright expressed his childhood memories even though they were not very good. The critic, Adams, argues that Richard Wright shared his misrepresentation of his personality, rae, and family in his childhood by explaining that they did not help him. He believed that everyone prevented him from hearing or speaking the truth. The only time someone listened to him was when he lied (Adams). Wright was independent from his family early on in his childhood because he knew that they would not support his views and dreams in life. In addition, Robert J. Butler exclaims, “ … ‘red circle’ of flame which consume the curtains can be seen as a revealing symbol of Wright’s early life- a trap of spreading violence which can easily destroy him…” (Butler 62). If Richard Wright grew up to be who his parents taught him to be, he would never understand the danger of his childhood years. However, he did which let him leave it behind as soon as he could.

The story Black Boy, written by Richard Wright, is a story about a boy’s struggle with himself and the world around him. A large part of this struggle comes from Richard’s loss of innocence as a young child. Throughout the story Richard shows he must be independent to continue living in his abstract life. Richard loss of innocence is shown consistently throughout the book and other articles relating to the book. Four different situations that portray this loss of innocence are as follows; separation of blacks and whites, burning a house down, killing a kitten, and the cruel experiences he had in his childhood.

In the rural south Richard Wright is experiencing racism and witnessing violence because of race. In the 1920’s, race was a major factor in the way you grew up and how you were treated. As an African American boy he would be denied certain rights which caused him to become angry, among other things. When Richard gets mad or feels threatened he displays behavior that is seen as unacceptable. He is constantly being exposed to racism and violence so much that he is becoming influenced to display that behavior with people around him.

I enjoyed several aspects of this story while reading it. Wright recounts many hilarious yet relevant experiences from his life that keep readers entertained and informed. Because of his smooth writing skills, I was able to see how Richard’s understanding of race slowly evolved. When he is a child, Richard sees race merely as a trait rather than a social advantage or disadvantage. Since the author’s writing flows so well, I could tell how Richard developed into a dynamic character through the theme of race. On page 73, Richard states, “I did not know if the story

Everybody, at one moment or another during their childhood, has wished to gain the responsibilities of an adult. However, most kids are held back by the childish part of themselves. They have to go through a coming of age cycle, that once completed, has matured them and made them evolve from their old-self. In Richard Wright’s autobiography Black Boy, we follow a young boy named Richard through his own journey to become a man, as we see him struggle and overcome obstacles. The author uses the motifs of hunger, discrimination, and religion to represent his quest and to emphasize on all the challenges life throws at him.

“I could not react as the world in which I lived expected me to. ”(196) The book Black Boy by Richard Wright is a memoir about the struggles Wright faces as a black individual growing up in the Jim Crow-era South. Wright illustrates the world as he saw it, including his complex thoughts and feelings that conflicted with others.

were important in 1945, such as social injustice , social norms, and counter culture, which were a vital part of making Wright the person he was. The main character, Richard Wright was frequently abused and told what to do by the whites. Richard is trying to understand why everyone isn’t equal. His family isn’t supportive of him, “not acting his color”. Richard’s father isn’t a huge role in his life, only at a young age. Multiple series of violent events made Richard the person he portrayed to be. External forces made Richard try to fit social norms, while also trying to be himself. Since the book was written in the Jim Crow era, a lot of racist moments are discussed. Wright uses many literary and historical devices to show the struggles he went through when it came to racism , social norms, and counterculture. but ultimately he uses characterization, conflict, and figurative language to show the effects of external forces and factors.

Throughout the book Black Boy by Richard Wright sheds light on the interesting life of the writers personal memories. Richard is living in a community coming out of slavery as a first generation feeling freedom. His life starts off at a young age and spans through till his days as a successful writer. Many motifs throughout his life repeats in his writing topics. During his years fire is a common perspection expressed in many metaphorical ways and physical, this expression extends to his educational, religious, and psychological mindsets.

Furthermore, at an early age, he questions the racism white people have internalized and criticizes the social circumstances African Americans have accepted, much to the dismay of his family members. Richard constantly desires to assimilate into society based on his own terms, as opposed to conforming to the norms the world sets for him. Consequently, he continues to struggle against white culture, both in the South and North. The intelligent, self-respecting, and ambitious man of color that Richard strives to become is never accepted by society, thus infuriating him. He becomes vulnerable to the social factors that surround him, most notably during the Great Depression. Richard joins the Communist Party of Chicago after being told that minorities like himself will achieve economic success by revolting against capitalism. However, after seeing how oppressive the party is, Richard dissociates himself from it and aims to forge his own middle path. Although he continues to alienate himself from the majority of America, it is evident that Wright’s thoughts on discrimination, class differences, and bigotry act as a catalyst for his character development. His experiences in the Jim Crow South, Great Depression, and with the Communist Party force himself to continuously ask questions about the plight of African Americans. Despite never receiving substantial answers to the thoughts he had, Wright’s commentary on racial inequality in the 20th

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).