Literary Analysis Essay On Black Boy

Fatma Hussein
English Language Arts
Society VS. Man

“Society knows perfectly well how to kill a man and has methods more subtle than death”(Andre Gride) Through out the 1930’s, the Jim Crow era was commencing within the south which lead to the great numbers in Blacks that were being suppressed. Black Boy by Richard Wright demonstrates all the obstacles that he has to overcome in his childhood. Black Boy introduces Richard as a child facing violence, racism and the low self-esteem that is depicted by the people around him. Richard moves from place to place, trying to find the ideal place where he can feel comfortable. Yet life seems as though it always gives the cold shoulder to Richards dream, constantly being silenced by hatred and
The battle Richard faced with society. As a child Richard is stripped from his innocence, brought up on this world thinking that he has to fight to be heard. From his early days in his childhood his struggle began to unveil. Black Boy features an episode where Richard is taught to fight. This episode expresses that Richard had a hard time growing up in the south. Richards mother starts this episode by ordering Richard to go and get groceries. However when Richard is on his way to the store a gang of boys decide to beat him and steal his money. “When i reached the corner, a gang of boys grabbed me, knocked me down, snatched the basket, took the money, and set me running home in panic”(Wright 16). Richards mother tells him that she will teach him how to fight, she hands him a stick and tells him to strike the boys if they try to fight him.Richard is then forced to fight a battle in order to earn respect from the people. “They closed in. In blind fear I let the stick fly, feeling it crack it against a boy’s skulls.”(Wright 18) Richard is telling the readers that he was sacred to
Where you are absolutely deranged and bewildered and still lingering on hope. Black Boy commences off with an episode that portrays all these attributes within one single character, Shorty. Richard works at an optical company, where he tends to errands. The elevator man known as shorty is described as being very intelligent but would demean himself, when in the presence of a white man. Shorty at the time needed a quarter for his lunch and was desperate. He told Richard that he would get a quarter from the next person they met in the elevator. shorty being desperate enough that he lets a white man kick him for a quarter. “Shorty giggled,swing around, bent over, and poked out his broad, fleshy ass. You can kick me for a quarter!”(Wright 228) Richard was astonished by how far a man was going to go to degrade himself and illustrate a poorly bad picture of a black man in the south. Shorty allowed the white men to think that he was dumb and are uneducated. Richard felt no hanger or hatred, only disgust and loathing. Richard is never the less troubled once again. Richard was scared to admit which white man had troubled him because he was brought up on thoughts that blacks had no rights, and to not step out of line or they would be killed. in this particular situation he refused to say which white man had been harassing him when he was