Race and Identity in Richard Wright’s Black Boy

Stephen Donato Professor Schmitz HSF 20 family 2012 Race and Identity in Richard W tied(p) offs Black Boy Each and each psyche on this Earth straight off has an personal identity. Over the years, each individual creates their identity through noncurrent experiences, family, persist, and many an(prenominal) other factors. Race, which continues to cause fusss in to twenty-four hourss world, places individuals into certain(p) categories. Based on their race, pile be designated to be fail of a larger, or group identity kind of of cosmos viewed as a person with a unequalled identity. end-to-end Richard Wrights Black Boy, Richard is on a attend for his true identity.Through uprise Black Boy, adept hatful see that Richards racial minimise assigns him with a certain identity or a certain way in which some great deal believe he should live his vitality. Growing up in the Jim Crow second, many vernal abusives, catch their identities essentially al shewy created for them based still on the lynchpingrounds and race. During this condemnation period, whites expect dulls to represent a certain way, feel certain traits, and treat them with absolute respect. Whites during Richards conviction still feel they atomic number 18 oer frequently superior to the threatenings they interact with, and select many expectations that would be considered racist today.However, in his work, Richard Wright shows how one arsehole break from this influence spew. In many instances during the work, Richard breaks from this identity to which he is depute in order to create his unique identity and grow into the person he takes to become. Richard refuses to sit back and to be absorb into the Jim Crow lifestyle of southern blacks. In Richard Wrights Black Boy, Richards then(prenominal) experiences with both white and black individuals, family, and race issues shape his true identity and catch him into the man of his pipe dreams living the life which he ch ooses instead of the one assigned to him.Richard Wright, a young black boy growth up in his family home in Mississippi, searches for his identity through many diametrical experiences. A constant in his life which continues to shape his identity cartridge holder and epoch again is his family. Throughout the work, Richard searches for a agree satisfactory and caring family. Although his family may non equate the description at all ages, they inspection and repair him to puddle his independence, a big part of his true identity. As a young black male growing up in a house with his elongate family, Richard did non contrive many step downdoms. Throughout Black Boy, Richards family perpetually hold dears him from the extraneous world.The allegory set d avows in his granny k nons home in Mississippi where his family constantly reprimands him. For example, in the origin of this work, Richard Wrights grand mystify has fallen sick in the house. Therefore, Richard is expect to be quiet and non breeze with his brother. Richard, a young boy, honourable wants to let some fun, and proceeds to play with matches. He becomes more than and more curious, and sets the curtains on fire, close burning down the house. Because he was so sheltered, he became this curious little boy, do trouble in his family home.Consequently, Richard is perplexen for his actions, which becomes a common theme through the work. Richard explains I was lashed so hard and long that I lost consciousness. I was beaten out of my senses and later I found myself in bed, screaming, determined to run away, tussling with my sire and capture who were trying to keep me still (Wright 7) season and time again, family members or out-of-doorrs attempt to beat Richard. He withdraws his prototypic real lesson plastic his identity sequence trying to corrupt groceries for the house. after his father leaves, Richards mother tells Richard he is now in tuition of misdirecting groceries.Ri chard feels like the man of the house, and acts very confidently, until he needs to go buy the f atomic number 18. The first dickens times he attempts to buy food, a crowd of boys trounce him and steals his specie. However, his mother sends him out a third time equipped with a stick. Richard tardily defeats the boys and claims that night he won the right to the streets of Memphis (Wright 21). In this situation, it seems that Richards mom is non being fair by move him out to get beat up time and time again. However, she is only doing this in order to help Richard survive in the future.By winning the right to the streets of Memphis, Richard is growing more independent. He no longer relies on his father to bring home food because he is non coming back, and he is able to stand up for himself when the time comes. Richard becomes more independent throughout several(predicate) experiences in Black Boy. Richards gran, a devoutly religious person, has an underlying in solelyice w ith Richard because he is non religious. Richards granny k non begins to shelter him by not purchase him books which he needs for instruct. Richard explains, I ask textbooks and had to wait for months to obtain them. granny said that she would not buy worldly books for me (Wright 143). In addition, Richard claims that his Granny always burned the books he had brought into the house, stigmatization them as worldly (Wright 151). Richard needed property to buy his books, some in the raw clothes, and luncheon during the week at condition. However, his grandmother continues to shelter him by not allowing him to work. When Richard asked to work on the weekends, Richard explains that she laid down the injunction that I could not work on Saturdays while I slept under her roof (Wright 147).These two instances with his grandmother show Richards ambition. Richard wants to found something of himself, and does not want to sit back and live the usual life of a black individual. He wants to begin on the job(p) in order to baffle money to buy his books so that he asshole drive and live out his dream of becoming a economizer. He begins to read articles in magazines from newspapers he sells, and learns of the vast world. He loves it, and he hungered for a different life, for something new (Wright 151). Richard wants to get out and experience the world, and break the lick of the assumed black identity.To begin this task, Richard begins writing his own stories. After Richard completes his first bosh, he brings it to his neighbor to read. Her reaction to his story was the common reaction Whats that for? (Wright 141). Later, Richard shows his grandmother his second piece, The Voodoo of Hells Half-Acre. She has the same reaction as the neighbor, and begins to dubiety him on what the story is about and wherefore he is writing a story for the newspaper. According to her, he go forth not be able to get a job because citizenry be acquittance to approximate that he is weak given(p) (Wright 198).Richard exceeds expectations and completes tasks that black masses arent divinatory to do. Richard changes his identity from a subservient black boy into a motley of uncontrollable young man by beginning his writing career. Throughout the work, Richard introduces a unbounded number of jobs from working(a) in homes of whites, to attempting to learn the trade of optometry. For one of his many jobs, Richard is working for a white family. duration interviewing for this job, the mother of the family asks if he will steal from them, a common trait associated with black people.While working for this family, Richard is having a conversation with the mother. She asks him, What grade are you in civilize? (Wright 173). Richard responds, S in timeth, maam (Wright 173). She then asks him, Then why are you going to give lessons? (Wright 173). This conversation shows that whites forecast it is unnecessary for blacks to go to coach past the sixth grad e because they should be working. Whites think that they will never amount to anything, and wherefore should not be wasting their time in school. However, Richard wants to break this predetermined mold of who he is supposed to be.He replies to his employer, Well, I want to be a writer (Wright 173). While working for this white family, Richards predetermined identity and his plans to break from this mold are both shown. Eventually, Richard hopes to be able to write for a living, and continues to attend school to study to become the best he can be. Both his employer and his family tell him that he has no chance of becoming a writer, simply he continues to prove eachone wrong by not worrying about his race. He dismisses the fact that there are no famous black writers, and continues to achieve his goals and continues to form his true identity.Richard continues to press on and works hard each and every day in order to break the mold of his assigned identity due to his race. Richard at last becomes the valedictorian of his ninth grade socio-economic class, and has a huge disagreement with his principal. The principal rally Richard to his office and says to him, Well, Richard Wright, here is your oral communication (Wright 206). After Richard claims that he has already written his own address, the principal tells him Listen, boy, youre going to babble to both white and colored people that night. What can you alone think of verbal expression to them?You select no experience. . . (Wright 206). Richard continues to fight this trust made by his principal that he cannot accept a dustup which will be acceptable for white people to listen to. Even when his Uncle Tom claims, the principals speech is the better speech (Wright 209) Richard agrees. However, Richard wants to give the speech he wrote because it says what he wants to say (Wright 209-10). Richard did not care if the principals speech was better than his he precious to deliver his speech the way he w anted to deliver it. Here, Richard continues to develop his true dentity as a fighter who will not stand for this assigned identity. He wants to make a difference in the world, and he is fed up with everyone just fetching the abuse they receive. He begins to build up a dream in himself which the educational system in the Jim Crow South had been rigged and designed to stifle (Wright 199). He was only fifteen years old, and already began realizing how the Jim Crow South worked. However, he did not like the system, and constantly fought against it. Growing up in Marlboro, New Jersey, race was not much of an issue for me.Throughout my K-8 public education, over ninety-five percent of the students in my school were white, just like me. I had no problem fitting in, and was able to get many of the privileges spoken about in Peggy McIntoshs White Privilege. I got along with nigh(a)ly all of my classmates growing up, and was even friends with the some black kids in my school. Ben, a bl ack classmate of mine became a close friend when we played on the basketball game team together. As I move on from Middle School to a private, catholic high school, there were even less minorities. In my senior graduating class I had three black classmates.These some individuals were sometimes segregated from the group, and might have felt uncomfortable during some circumstances. However, I did not realize at the time how sheltered I was from the world. I did not have many friends of different cultures and was not truly aware of the world outside of my high school and my hometown. I never truly viewed the other perspective I took for granted my opportunity to go to school and get a good, public school education through middle school. I then again took for granted my world power to go to private high school to receive an even more alter education in a smaller school.I did not think about the short(p) ethnical groups living in the slums of places such as Haiti, or even in plac es such as Newark, NJ. I had this sort of mindset going through school that if it didnt involve me, it wasnt my problem to fix. Students in these poor, urban areas such as Newark and Camden in NJ tend to have a different lifestyle than students from Marlboro. In these poor communities, school is almost looked at as it is in black boy. close kids from these areas will begin working when they fine-tune high school, and do not go onto college. Again, I took for granted my opportunity to go to a small, unique, private college.Most kids in these areas I described dont even dream of going college because they believe it is just not a possibility for them. In my short time at Babson, I have met people from countries that I have never heard of before. I have acquainted myself with many different people of many different races, and I am beginning to learn a hardly a(prenominal) facts about many different cultures. In this short period of time, my cultural perspective has broadened greatl y. I cannot wait to see how much I will learn about so many different cultures and ethnic groups in my four years at Babson.In conclusion, Richard Wright searches for his identity throughout his life in the Jim Crow South. Richard does not want to just be another drop in the bucket in this Jim Crow lifestyle, and does not want to fit the mold of a typical black male. He has dreams, aspirations, and goals which no other black youth has been able to accomplish. He continues to fight against the assumed black identity until he forms his own self-identity. Richards race definitely lead to assumptions being made by different individuals, but he was able to break secrete of these assumptions and create a life in which he was in control.Richard Wright broke free of the Jim Crow South and lived the life which he wanted to live while evolution his own identity. Just as Wright did, every one of us struggles to define who we are, when in reality we are only who we are supposed to be. I pledg e my notice that I have neither get nor provided unauthorized assistance during the completion of this work. whole works Cited Wright, Richard. Black Boy (american Hunger) A figure of Childhood and Youth. New York, NY HarperPerennial, 1993. Print.