"Black Boy"--A Review

Paper Summary:

This paper examines Richard Wright's novel "Black Boy" in the larger context of racism in America. The paper describes Wright's view of racism as existing in the very fabric of society. The reviewer further describes Wright as believing it would be virtually impossible to characterize American society in the absence of racism. According to the paper, Wright is quite pessimistic about the future of American society. The reviewer concludes that Wright feels the concrete dreadfulness of racism cannot be overcome on a social level at once, but can be overcome through the individual mindset and self-release.

From the Paper:

"The portrait Wright paints of America is a truly bleak one. Escape from the trials of life as a black boy seems almost altogether non-existent. Wright attempts to escape the South only find himself more fearful in the North; he escapes to Chicago only to encounter the same social barriers to success. In the end, Wright's escape is only truly possible through the act of writing--it becomes his one link to an ideal world. Even at a very young age, Wright seems to possess a clue that life, for a black man, may never truly be fulfilling in any tangible way: "At the age of twelve I had . . . a conviction that the meaning of living came only when one was struggling to wring a meaning out of meaningless suffering," (Wright 100). Clearly, the act of writing becomes this struggle for Wright. Unfortunately, writing and literature are the two facets of the world that his own black culture seek to deny him throughout his entire childhood. So in this way, Wright is attempting to critique both black and white culture. Although the dominant, oppressive culture of white America aggressively places limits upon what is attainable for a black man, the oppressed black culture methodically limits the modes of escape for a black man out of the community's need for self-preservation."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Frankenberg, Ruth. "Growing up White: the Social Geography of Race." From White Women, Race Matters: the social Construction of Whiteness. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998.
• Hakutani, Yoshinobu. "Creation of the Self in Richard Wright's Black Boy." From Richard Wright's Black Boy (American Hunger), edited by William L. Andrews and Douglas Taylor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
• Lorde, Audre. "Age, Race, Class, and Sex." From Sister Outsider. Berkeley: Crossing Press, 1984.
• Prescott, Orville. "Review in the New York Times, Feb. 28, 1945, p. 21." From Richard Wright: the Critical Reception, edited by John M. Reilly. New York: Burt Franklin, 1978.
• Wright, Richard. Black Boy. San Francisco: Perennial Classics, 1998.

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