America. Land of the Free, home of the brave. “All men are created equal” Ha...you could’ve fooled me. The United States claims that is is a “free” country, but does that right not include African Americans? Richard Wright, a black boy indeed, lived in an unstable environment filled with nothing but struggle and hardships. To make matters worse, he was raised in a racist southern society where blacks were oppressed, belittled and degraded. He was treated like dirt and stomped on throughout life. If everyone is supposed to be treated equal, then why did Wright, along with so many other blacks, have to suffer through pain, suffering and discouragement? His childhood played a major factor in shifting his life in both a positive and negative way.
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In a way, the struggles he went through turned him into a better, smarter, and a stronger minded person; It gave him the motivation to write and to face challenges head on. They also limited his ability to fit in well with others, even in the Communists party and while in school. When he arrived to the north he had a hard time trusting white people which was a result of how he was treated by them in the south. A turning point in Wright’s growth and maturation is when he discovers the power of words, a discovery that changes his entire outlook on his own life and those around him. Whereas his hunger had previously consumed him, he finally begins to quench his thirst for knowledge through his reading. Throughout the book his moral judgments are put to the test. Many times he didn’t let it get the best of him, such as delivering his own graduation speech, and other times he gave in, such as stealing money. He states that, “My objections to stealing were not moral, I did not approve of it because I knew that, in the long run, it was futile, that it was not an effective way to alter one’s relationship to one’s environment.” This shows that he felt regret for his actions and that his circumstances, in fact, did change him.
Richard Wright’s home life and the way society treated him, not only broke him and allowed him to make himself stronger, but it also defined him as being a true “black
In a way, the struggles he went through turned him into a better, smarter, and a stronger minded person; It gave him the motivation to write and to face challenges head on. They also limited his ability to fit in well with others, even in the Communists party and while in school. When he arrived to the north he had a hard time trusting white people which was a result of how he was treated by them in the south. A turning point in Wright’s growth and maturation is when he discovers the power of words, a discovery that changes his entire outlook on his own life and those around him. Whereas his hunger had previously consumed him, he finally begins to quench his thirst for knowledge through his reading. Throughout the book his moral judgments are put to the test. Many times he didn’t let it get the best of him, such as delivering his own graduation speech, and other times he gave in, such as stealing money. He states that, “My objections to stealing were not moral, I did not approve of it because I knew that, in the long run, it was futile, that it was not an effective way to alter one’s relationship to one’s environment.” This shows that he felt regret for his actions and that his circumstances, in fact, did change him.
Richard Wright’s home life and the way society treated him, not only broke him and allowed him to make himself stronger, but it also defined him as being a true “black