Black Boy Essay, Research Paper
Black Boy
Black Boy relates to those blacks that had to go through the struggle that Richard Wright had to gothrough. For example: finding jobs,fitting in with other people, and mostly trying to make sure they do what thewhites wanted them to do. RichardWright wants us to learn how the blacks had to fight for their lives in theSouth under the control of the whites.
One example that shows how much hate the whites had towards the blacks was whenRichard?s aunt came over one night with her new husband, and said that they hadto move North because they were being followed by whites (Wright 77). This shows that the whites continuallyharassed the blacks and the only way for Richard?s uncle to survive was to moveaway.
Richard has also witnessed some terrible events that had happened to blacks whileworking at his job in the clothing store. The owner of the store and his son dragged one black woman through thestore. She was also beaten very badlyfor not paying her bills. Other whitepeople witnessed this scene, but did nothing in their power to stop it (Wright198-199). The treatment the blacks received was far different from that of the whites. The whites loved to show how much authority they have over theblacks by beating them really badly.
One day when Richard was on his way home from work, he was offered a ride form a groupof white teenagers. They had asked him if he wanted a beer and Richard repliedwith ?no I don?t want any.? Instead of saying ?no sir? because he did notanswer as he was suppose to he was hit with a whiskey bottle over the head byone of the guys and thrown off of the back of the truck (Wright 201). This shows that unless you call the whiteswhat they want to be called or answer back to them as ?no sir or ?yes sir,?then they won?t treat you with any respect at all and you might even getbeaten. According to an article byJohnathon Tilove, blacks can?t afford to trust whites, but then again couldwhites afford to trust blacks (slavery 149).
After weeks of trying to find a job Richard Wright finally heard of one. He was goingto be working for this white woman in her home. His duties were to chopping wood, scrubbing floors, doing dishesand cleaning the yard. He would work morningevenings and all day Sunday. Richard?spay was that he got two dollars a week and he got breakfast and dinner. Beforethe white woman even hired she asked him if he had ever stolen. What kind of question was that was itbecause I was black, Richard thought in his head? He worked there for one day and the next day he didn?t even showup (Wright 160-161). This shows that the whites have no trust in the blacks.How could most even get a job if the whites had no belief in them.
Wright was getting tired of the way he was getting treated in the South so he finallydecides to move to the North. Aftersaving up Richard finally comes up with enough money to move to the North. When he gets there he finds out that whitesin the North are a lot nicer to blacks than in the South (Wright 229). Thisshows that people are not the same everywhere you. There are actually whitesthat weren?t as mean as the ones that were in the South.
Richard Wright wanted to read Mencken?s books, but nevercould because he wasn?t allowed to go into the library. He talked to a man that he worked with wholiked blacks and told him he wanted to read Mencken?s books. The white man agreed to let Wright forge anote allowing him to check out books at a white only library. He got Mencken?sbooks, after reading his books Wright thought that his ?irreverence and mockeryon human authority gave him a new outlook on things?(unger 475). In my opinion,I think that in a world filled with hate because of skin color anddiscriminated against everyday I could not get enough courage to walk to theone who kills my people and forge their signature on a note so I could get abook. Especially everything that Richard has gone through with white people andhow they treated him, but Wright was very determined to figure out whyeverything was the way it was. Mostly how the whites had so much hate and powerover the blacks