Free Essays on Black Boy

Short Summary of Black Boy: Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth is hailed in the genre of American literature as one of the most important non-fiction works documenting not only a piece of history, but a piece of African American culture. The novel starts with Richard at the age of four, who mistakenly burns down the house after starting a fire out of boredom. As punishment, Richard is beaten - a typical punishment he receives from authority figures. When Richard father figuratively says to kill a cat outside (because it is making too much noise), he purposely disobeys his father by strangling the cat. When his mother makes him bury and pray for the cat, he is haunted by the image of the cat's ghost. Richard's father deserts the family, and his mother is left to earn money to feed the family, leaving Richard and his brother unattended. When Richard is six years old, he wanders into the local saloon and learns how to drink and swear. Despite Richard's obvious intellectual capabilities exemplified by his q uick learning skills, he is still unaware of the relationship between blacks and whites in the South. Richard and his family move to Elaine, Arkansas, to live with Aunt Addie and Uncle Hoskins a successful proprietor of a saloon catering to black workers. On the way to Elaine, they stop to stay with Granny in Jackson. When Ella the young schoolteacher renting out a room from Granny reads Richard the story of Bluebeard, Granny kicks her out of the house for blasphemy and "Devil stuff." Richard is also beaten for saying obscenities to his Grandmother. In Elaine, Richard is allowed to eat as much as he wants for the first time. But when an envious group of white men murder Uncle Hoskins, Richard and his family flee the town. They stay at Granny's house for a period before moving on to West Helena, where Richard would associate with the black neighborhood children and ridicule Jewish people in the neighborhood. They live in a po... Free Essays on Black Boy Free Essays on Black Boy Short Summary of Black Boy: Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth is hailed in the genre of American literature as one of the most important non-fiction works documenting not only a piece of history, but a piece of African American culture. The novel starts with Richard at the age of four, who mistakenly burns down the house after starting a fire out of boredom. As punishment, Richard is beaten - a typical punishment he receives from authority figures. When Richard father figuratively says to kill a cat outside (because it is making too much noise), he purposely disobeys his father by strangling the cat. When his mother makes him bury and pray for the cat, he is haunted by the image of the cat's ghost. Richard's father deserts the family, and his mother is left to earn money to feed the family, leaving Richard and his brother unattended. When Richard is six years old, he wanders into the local saloon and learns how to drink and swear. Despite Richard's obvious intellectual capabilities exemplified by his q uick learning skills, he is still unaware of the relationship between blacks and whites in the South. Richard and his family move to Elaine, Arkansas, to live with Aunt Addie and Uncle Hoskins a successful proprietor of a saloon catering to black workers. On the way to Elaine, they stop to stay with Granny in Jackson. When Ella the young schoolteacher renting out a room from Granny reads Richard the story of Bluebeard, Granny kicks her out of the house for blasphemy and "Devil stuff." Richard is also beaten for saying obscenities to his Grandmother. In Elaine, Richard is allowed to eat as much as he wants for the first time. But when an envious group of white men murder Uncle Hoskins, Richard and his family flee the town. They stay at Granny's house for a period before moving on to West Helena, where Richard would associate with the black neighborhood children and ridicule Jewish people in the neighborhood. They live in a po... Free Essays on Black Boy In Richard Wright’s novel, Black Boy, Richard is struggling to survive in a racist environment in the South. In his youth, Richard is vaguely aware of the differences between blacks and whites. He scarcely notices if a person is black or white, and views all people equally. As Richard grows older, he becomes more and more aware of how whites treat blacks, the social differences between the races, and how he is expected to act when in the presence of white people. Richard, with a rebellious nature, finds that he is torn between his need to be treated respectfully, with dignity and as an individual with value and his need to conform to the white rules of society for survival and acceptance. As a child growing up in the Jim Crow South, Richard is faced with constant pressure to conform to the white authority. However, even from an early age, Richard has a strong spirit of rebellion. The black community reacts to his rebellion disapprovingly, and Richard suffers intense isolation and loneliness during the early years of his life, feeling that he does not fit in or belong with his family or the black community. An example of Richard’s rebelliousness because of his attempts to gain respect and equality is shown when he is selected as the valedictorian of his graduating class and he is asked to deliver a speech. The principal calls him to his office and tells him to recite a speech that the principal wrote himself, saying that Richard needs to recite his speech because he is going to be speaking in front of white people and it is important to make a good impression. Richard, of course, refuses the principal’s speech and recites his own, despite the disapproving feelings of his peers and elders. Richard tells the principal, â€Å"I know I’m not educated, professor. But the people are coming to hear the students, and I won’t make a speech that you’re written† (Wright 193). Richard did not understand until later that the b lack communit... Free Essays on Black Boy This novel is set in Harlem in New York City. The Grimes migrate to the North in search of new opportunities. Elizabeth bids goodbye to her aunt in Maryland and leaves with Richard. She arrives in New York with great expectations but she is sorely disappointed. "Here, in this great city where no one cared, where people might live in the same building for years and never speak to one another, she found herself, when Richard took her in his arms, on the edge of a steep place and down she rushed, on the descent uncaring, into the dreadful sea." New York is a big and bustling city but it is heartless. The only way Elizabeth and Richard make their existence meaningful is by visiting places of interest in the city on weekends. They go to the Central Park or the Museum of Natural history to take their mind off from the daily drudgery. John Grimes does the same when he has to escape out of his dingy quarters at Harlem. He climbs a hill nearby to view New York in all its majesty and imagines himself to be an influential figure in the city. From there he walks over to mid-town Manhattan and Central Park to get a feel of the city. John experiences a sense of freedom in all the places outside his home at Harlem. His house was "narrow and dirty; nothing could alter its dimensions, no labour could ever make it clean. Dirt was in the walls and the floorboards, and triumphed beneath the sink where roaches spawned; was in the fine ridges of the pots and pans, scoured daily, burnt black on the bottom, hanging above the store; was in the wall against which they hung, and revealed itself where the paint had cracked and leaned outward in stiff squares and fragments, the paper-thin underside webbed with black." In similar quarters live Florence and other Negroes like her. If they look out of their window, they can see "scraps of paper and frosty dust, and - the hanging signs of stores and storefro...