Internal And External Conflicts In Richard Wright's Black Boy

The internal and external conflicts are very conspicuous in Richard Wright's story Black Boy. When the boy's father left, his internal problem of hunger became closely associated with his father. After the boy started doing household chores such as cleaning and shopping, that gave way to another internal problem, responsibility. The boy was not yet ready for such a responsibility; he had to grow up fast in too short a period. On the boy's first trip to the supermarket, he came across an angry mob of boys. The boys beat him and stole his money. They did this a second time, and each time the boy's fear of the gang became increasingly evident. His external conflict with this gang became more and more of a problem. When finally the boy stood up for himself, he solved two problems, his hunger, and the fear of the boys.The external problem of his father leaving and the fear of the gang, closely coexist with the internal problem of the boy's hunger. The gang is in the way of the boy getting the groceries, and boy would have never had the problem of being hungry if his father didn’t left. Overall, the boy's conflicts revolve around his father. Even though the father is not there, the boy grows stronger in the end because of it. For when he stood …show more content…
Since books are basically the opposite of silence—they’re all about words—it’s notable that Black Boy brings up "silent" and "silence" almost 100 times. If an author does something enough, it probably means something. But there’s another kind of silence, too. A telepathic kind. Richard explains: "That was the way things were between whites and blacks in the South; many of the most important things were never openly said; they were understated and left to seep through to one" .Time after time, Richard "talks" to white men through silence. And it makes sense. Since blacks and whites more or less speak different languages in the South,maybe silence is the only way they can