Richard Wright and Black Boy :: Black Boy

Richard Wright and Black Boy 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 Richard Wright and Black Boy :: Black Boy Richard Wright and Black Boy 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