In Black Boy by Richard Wright, the narrator must take his journey from innocence to experience by facing ridicule and seeing how closed minded the people of his society are after publishing his short story. Throughout the story, the narrator comes to realize what is seen as acceptable and what is not, and then he makes his own opinion. The narrator shows his ignorance in the beginning, his eventual knowledge and acceptance, and finally he makes up his own mind about what he wants to do. Even with the social norms pressing against him, the narrator is able to gain experience and understanding from his innocence. At the beginning of the story, the narrator is ignorant to the social roles set up around him. He is unable to see the way people
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“The North symbolized to me all that I had not felt and seen; it had no relation whatever to what actually existed”. The narrator sees the north as a safe haven for him and a place where he could have the freedom to write without the same kind of judgement. What actually exists is the close-mindedness of everyone around him, which is something he recognizes and hopes will change once he is in a different environment, the north. The narrator has accepted the world for what it is but hopes to find a place where he can still write and there would at least be some people who understand why he writes. The north is not only a place to make money, but it is a major opportunity for him to grow into the writer he wants to be. He knows that as a black man he will never be able to reach anything bigger for himself in the south. The narrator now knows how he can proceed with his writing and find a better place for his writing to be accepted. “In me was shaping a yearning for a kind of consciousness, a mode of being that the way of life about me had said could not be, must not be, and upon which the penalty of death had been placed”. The narrator will no longer accept the social standing placed upon him that everyone expects him to die with. He wants to be something greater than what he is supposed to be and he refuses to remain ignorant and innocent to how he is treated within the
“The North symbolized to me all that I had not felt and seen; it had no relation whatever to what actually existed”. The narrator sees the north as a safe haven for him and a place where he could have the freedom to write without the same kind of judgement. What actually exists is the close-mindedness of everyone around him, which is something he recognizes and hopes will change once he is in a different environment, the north. The narrator has accepted the world for what it is but hopes to find a place where he can still write and there would at least be some people who understand why he writes. The north is not only a place to make money, but it is a major opportunity for him to grow into the writer he wants to be. He knows that as a black man he will never be able to reach anything bigger for himself in the south. The narrator now knows how he can proceed with his writing and find a better place for his writing to be accepted. “In me was shaping a yearning for a kind of consciousness, a mode of being that the way of life about me had said could not be, must not be, and upon which the penalty of death had been placed”. The narrator will no longer accept the social standing placed upon him that everyone expects him to die with. He wants to be something greater than what he is supposed to be and he refuses to remain ignorant and innocent to how he is treated within the