Who Is Richard Wright's Struggle With Race In The South?

In the early 20th century african americans in the south were treated very poorly and received no respect or equality. Even though on paper they had been given the same rights as all people, in the real world they didn’t receive one bit of it. Throughout Richard Wright's journey through life in the south he goes from being a young boy that has learned to do what he is told to a person that has learned that you can’t give up in order to succeed and that you need to preserve to the light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how small it may be.

Throughout the book Richard truly grows a better understanding of the conflicts between races in the south by experiencing and observing them first hand. When Richard is in his late teens he is working …show more content…
One day when Richard was a young boy him and his buddies where hanging around with each other, cracking jokes, and having fun. They start to make mean jokes about each other and one kid says: “Man, them white folks ought catch you and send you to the zoo and keep you for the next war.” (79). This shows that they have come to take the bad parts of the south and turn it into humor. When they all laugh, they are laughing not only because the joke stupidly funny but it is actually a depiction of what they have come to think of the interactions between whites and blacks. This also shows that the discrimination and racial injustice has come to such a harsh point that even young boys like Richard and his friends have been convinced by society that the white men are superior and they they are just animals.Another example is at the end of Part 1 Richard leaves his house and decides to head north. Before he leaves he talks to his terminally ill dying mother one last time. He says to her: “‘Mama, I’m going away,’I whispered. ‘oh, no,’ she protested. ‘I’ve got to, mama. I can’t live this way” (206). This shows that Richard is not letting white people push him around anymore and he has come to truly believe that all people are equal and one person should not just be able to de-humanise another due to the color of their skin. This also shows that he is tired of not being a true person with a purpose in life. He has now learned that in order to fulfill his heart and mind’s desires he has to give it all up for to get to the light at the end of the tunnel. By the end of Part 1 Richard has gone from accepting discrimination to finally standing up and fighting against it in order to live out the life and respect he