People commonly say “it is not always black and white” when comparing two or more things because there is always a “gray” area. This is not the case in Richard Wright’s autobiography, Black Boy. In this novel the reader views the world from the eyes of an African American child as he grows up during the most racist era in American history. The autobiography begins with Richard discussing some of his earlier memories of living in the racially tense South during the early 1900s, and describes the parenting methods and dilemmas in his life. As the novel progresses it becomes obvious that there is tension between whites and blacks in the South. In the times of this novel there was no “gray” in-between area there was only “blacks” and “whites”.
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Richard realized that white people took sport in abusing, humiliating, and demeaning a Negro whenever they had the chance, and not because of hatred but merely for amusement. Richard witnessed as members of his race were abused on a daily basis just for mere seconds of amusement in the eyes of the whites. Richard became a mere play thing in the white man’s toy box during one of his jobs as one of his many superiors, Mr. Olin, attempted to make Richard kill another black man for the entertainment of a few dozen white people. After discussing this with Harrison, the man he was supposed to kill, he discovered “He’s trying to make us kill each other . . . I suppose it’s fun for the white men to see niggers fight . . . To white men we’re like dogs or cocks” (Wright 237). Richard’s mind was disgusted as he realized that he was about to be taken advantage of, and possibly murdered, for the white man to get free entertainment. Richard became solemn after realizing this and his attitude towards both Harrison and Mr. Olin was permanently altered because of his loss of trust in both of them. The quote reveals not only that Richard was about to be used for a moment’s entertainment, but also that blacks are expendable to the white population since the death of one does not impact anyone of importance. According to the …show more content…
Richard’s point-of-view reveals how everything really went down and showed the constant violations of basic rights on these people. Blacks were taken advantage of by their white “superiors” who had enforced unjust laws upon them; meanwhile, the members of their race ran rampant abusing and killing blacks for the mere sport. This theme is expressed throughout the book as person after person is taken advantage of by the whites around them. Richard’s character was drastically changed because of this since he no longer viewed the world as equal, but instead he only saw things in two ways, the white way and the black way, since in those times you were either wrong or you were white. This theme impacts Richard in so many ways as his emotional distress is shown after each occurring event scars him. The blood of his brethren spilled as he watched idly by and witnessed their abuse, only to mentally beat himself later. The racially tense society caused innocent children, who saw everyone as equals, to become brutes that either abused or feared the other race at any given time. The white invisibility to the law and their power to manipulate blacks into doing medial tasks or hurt one another made them the reason why Richard is who he became, and is the theme of the
Richard realized that white people took sport in abusing, humiliating, and demeaning a Negro whenever they had the chance, and not because of hatred but merely for amusement. Richard witnessed as members of his race were abused on a daily basis just for mere seconds of amusement in the eyes of the whites. Richard became a mere play thing in the white man’s toy box during one of his jobs as one of his many superiors, Mr. Olin, attempted to make Richard kill another black man for the entertainment of a few dozen white people. After discussing this with Harrison, the man he was supposed to kill, he discovered “He’s trying to make us kill each other . . . I suppose it’s fun for the white men to see niggers fight . . . To white men we’re like dogs or cocks” (Wright 237). Richard’s mind was disgusted as he realized that he was about to be taken advantage of, and possibly murdered, for the white man to get free entertainment. Richard became solemn after realizing this and his attitude towards both Harrison and Mr. Olin was permanently altered because of his loss of trust in both of them. The quote reveals not only that Richard was about to be used for a moment’s entertainment, but also that blacks are expendable to the white population since the death of one does not impact anyone of importance. According to the …show more content…
Richard’s point-of-view reveals how everything really went down and showed the constant violations of basic rights on these people. Blacks were taken advantage of by their white “superiors” who had enforced unjust laws upon them; meanwhile, the members of their race ran rampant abusing and killing blacks for the mere sport. This theme is expressed throughout the book as person after person is taken advantage of by the whites around them. Richard’s character was drastically changed because of this since he no longer viewed the world as equal, but instead he only saw things in two ways, the white way and the black way, since in those times you were either wrong or you were white. This theme impacts Richard in so many ways as his emotional distress is shown after each occurring event scars him. The blood of his brethren spilled as he watched idly by and witnessed their abuse, only to mentally beat himself later. The racially tense society caused innocent children, who saw everyone as equals, to become brutes that either abused or feared the other race at any given time. The white invisibility to the law and their power to manipulate blacks into doing medial tasks or hurt one another made them the reason why Richard is who he became, and is the theme of the