Bigotry And Poverty Exposed In Richard Wright's Black Boy

In Black Boy, Wright encounters and endures many events of oppression and poverty during his survival in the Deep South that depicts the bigotry of the social and economic class for African Americans. Due to Wright and his family possessing a distinct skin color compared to the white people living in the South, they confront the inconvenience of having less privileges and opportunities which leads to them being impoverished and hungry. Furthermore, Wright’s family, especially his father, also contributes strongly to his continuous crisis of poverty and starvation while living in the South because his father deserts his family and rejects his parental role of providing for them. As a result of the disadvantageous limitations that the South sets …show more content…
While living in the North, the society is greatly affected by the Great Depression and the aid of relief stations becomes conspicuous for Wright to receive. However, he seems to possess and value pride that he might use to represent himself as a human being who is not inferior to those of higher classes and the white race. In this memoir, Wright’s pride implies that he has a purpose in his existence and he puts a tremendous amount of effort into becoming a prosperous and significant individual. He refuses to be looked down on by others just because of his lack of economic superiority and also does not desire to be dependent upon the society because he does not want to feel defeated nor be known as an underprivileged person. Hence, although poverty makes Wright’s life troublesome, his strength and courageousness derives from its hardships. Despite of Wright’s pride causing himself to loathe and hesitate upon the idea of being financially supported by others, he is forced to acceptance due to the economy’s harsh conditions which shows how greatly poverty affects him and his family. Poverty also causes Wright to lose hope in the North and …show more content…
Similar to Wright and his family, the Walls in The Glass Castle are an indigent family that lacks a sufficient amount of basic necessities essential for a normal living. Unlike Wright who suffers a poverty-stricken position in life due to his society’s prejudiced grounds set against his race, Walls’ state of poverty is not a result from a racial issue, but from her parents’ lack of will to provide and be responsible for the whole family. Wright’s father and Walls’ parents similarly contribute to their own situations of poverty because they all fail to engage in their parental duty of being responsible of their family’s welfare. Unlike Wright and his family who are unwillingly in the position of impoverishment due to his society’s poor conditions, Walls’ parents seem to choose to live in poverty because they neglect opportunities and refuse assistance from others that can help the family become sufficient with resources. This source of that leads to Walls’ poverty and hunger similarly ties in with Wright’s poor life because likewise, pride plays a role in Walls’ parents’