РефератыИностранный языкBlBlack Boy Essay Research Paper One main

Black Boy Essay Research Paper One main

Black Boy Essay, Research Paper


One main point of the United States Constitution was missing from the


Jim Crow South: equality. The Constitution clearly states that “all


men are created equal,” but in the Jim Crow era blacks were


continuously persecuted for something that would be acceptable in


today’s society. In the early 20th century the South was a place of


racial prejudice, discrimination, and hate; blacks could be punished


for simply looking at a white person in the wrong manner. Punishments


included arrest, beating, even lychings were a common part of the age.


This is how life was while Richard Wright was growing up; but in his


autobiography Black Boy we learn that despite his being a black boy in


the Jim Crow South, born on a Mississippi plantation, he is eventually


able to achieve success. Although independence was a crucial factor


that enabled Richard Wright to succeed, his rebelliousness,


intelligence, and perseverance were also important contributing


factors.


Richard Wright was an independent person by nature. Throughout the


book Richard never seemed to have an extreme emotional attachment to


anyone. It was as if he did not need or want anyone’s assistance or


approval, except his own. Ever since Richard was very young he was


forced to be independent. When he mother had her stroke, Richard was


forced to take charge and become the person of the house and he would


accept no one’s help. “Though I was a child, I could no longer feel as


a child, could no longer react as a child…When the neighbor’s offered


me food, I refused, already ashamed that so often in my life I had to


be fed by strangers.”(pg.97) While Richard was living at his Granny’s


his independence really started to show through. All Richard ever


thought about was leaving to go to the North; especially after being


ridiculed for writing his story, The Voodoo of Hell’s Half-Acre. No


one supported him. He wanted to be able to do what he wanted to, by


himself. “I drea! med of going north and writing books and


novels.”(pg.186) Once Richard was on his own he felt free of the


burden, of other people’s opinions that had tied him down his entire


life.


Along with independence, his rebelliousness was another beginning point


of Wright’s drive to make it in a white man’s world. The very first


sign we see of the rebel in Wright is when he is only four years old.


Richard and his brother are playing with a stray cat one day when his


father orders them to get rid of the cat because it is making a lot of


noise and Mr. Wright is trying to sleep, he even remarks, “Kill that


damn thing!” (pg.18) That is just what Richard intends to do. He


knows his father was just speaking figuratively because he was upset,


but Richard also knows that if his father could not punish Richard


without risking his authority. A second point at which Richard shows


the rebellion in him was when he was about to graduate from the ninth


grade. Richard was chosen as valedictorian of his class. As class


valedictorian, Richard was responsible for delivering a speech at his


graduation, to be held at one of the local public auditoriums. One day


shortly before! the graduation ceremony is scheduled to take place


Richard is summoned to the principal’s office. The principal hands


Richard a speech he has prepared for Richard to read. Richard has


already written his one speech and refuses to read the principal’s


work. When told that he will not be allowed to graduate without


abiding the principal and reading his speech, Richard’s reaction is:


“…this ninth-grade diploma isn’t going to help me much in life. I’m


not bitter about it, it’s not your fault. But I’m just not going to do


things this way.” Again, Richard has triumphed over an adult, this


time simply by defying an adult’s decree and doing the right thing.


Being an independent and rebellious youth, Richard also became a


>

success due to his intelligence. Richard’s intelligence was not only


acquired but also gifted. As a very young boy without any formal


education he already had a real hunger for knowledge and desired to


learn all, and anything, he could. Richard’s aptitude was first


described in Black Boy at the age of four. One morning Mrs. Wright


informed Richard that while she was at work coal that she ordered was


to be delivered to the house and that Richard would be responsible for


paying the man. When the coal man arrived with the delivery, Richard


gave him the money that his mother had left. When the man asked how


much change he owed Richard, Richard replied that he did not know, he


could not count. So the man began to teach Richard to count.


“He counted to ten and I listened carefully; then he asked me


to count alone and I did. He then made me memorize the


words twenty, thirty, forty etc., then told me to


add one, two, three, and so on. In about an


hour’s time I had learned to count to a


hundred…when my mother returned from her job that night


I insisted that she stand still and listen while I


counted to one hundred. She was dumbfounded.


After that she taught me to read, told stories. On


Sundays I would read the newspapers with my mother


guiding me and spelling out the words.”(pg.30)


Richard had not only learned to count in less than an hour but he was


also able to read the newspaper at the age of four.


His ability to persevere also guided Richard toward his prosperity.


There were many, many episodes in the life of Richard Wright that would


have slowed down or completely halted most people; but not Richard


himself. Richard was a fighter and no matter was obstacle he faced, he


knocked it right down and continued. Like his characteristics of


rebelliousness and intelligence, the perseverance in Richard’s


personality began at an exceedingly young age. Richard was four (as he


was when his rebelliousness and intelligence were first discovered by


the reader) when he faced his first physical interference in life.


Richard’s mother notified him that it would now be him job to do the


shopping. The first time he was to do the shopping on his own, Richard


set on his way with his basket on his arm. When he reached the corner


he was suddenly knocked down and robbed by a gang of boys. Richard ran


home and told his mother. She sent him right back out again. This


time the boy’s beat! him and again took his money. When Richard


returned home again his mother’s reaction was not what he expected.


“Don’t you come in here…You just stay right where you are. I’m going


to teach you this night to stand up and fight for yourself….Don’t you


come into this house until you’ve gotten those groceries.”(pg.24) She


handed Richard some more money, and a stick, told him that if the boys


bothered him again to fight back and then she sent him on his way. We


the boys attacked him again Richard fought back and sent them running


home to their mothers. Richard was taught perseverance by his mother,


and that stuck with him throughout his life as one of his top


qualities.


To sum things up, the rebellious nature in Richard Wright was a main


reason why he was able to overcome his background and become a


successful writer. The fact that he was independent, intelligent, and


had sense of perseverance also aided in his mastery. By reading Black


Boy it becomes clear to the reader how life can before not only a black


boy in the Jim Crow self but how vexatious it can be for any


pre-judged minority. Black Boy is able to teach readers how-to and


how-not-to treat people. The story of Richard Wright will presumably


teach someone who is racist that there is no place in the world for


racism. Richard is able to show the reader that people all have the


same feelings and are as alike on the inside as they are different on


the outside.

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