Richard Wright and John Griffin

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews, discusses and compares the authors, Richard Wright and John Griffin. The paper focuses on issues relating to being African-American, religion and education.

From the Paper:

"He, like Wright, felt fenced in by the Jim Crow mentality that still existed in the South, a century after slavery had been abolished. Talking with black men as an equal, the black men finally told him the truth. They talked about how hard it was not to find a rest room, and to be denied the use of public facilities. The shoe-shine man in the French Quarter that Griffin had paid as a white man never recognized him, even when he revealed to him who he was. He felt the backlash of blacks when he tried to be polite to white people, and realized that blacks felt prejudice, as well. The hatred and fractured society the blacks (and whites) lived in, in the South, created what he called "fragmented individualism," created from having to think of oneself first as a member of a sick society, then as a person. This constant switching back and forth from the abnormal social life to a personal life where one could not remain true to oneself, created an individual with multiple personalities."

Sample of Sources Used:

• American National Biography Online, 2000. Long Island University. Oxford University Press. 20 Dec 2006. <http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/cittur.htm>.
• Griffin, John. Black Like Me. New York, Houghton Mifflin. 1977.
• Power, Michael. Review. Black Like Me. Wings Press. <http://www.wingspress.com/Titles/Black_Like_Me.html>.
• Wright, Richard, Black Boy. New York: Harper, 1945.

More papers on Richard Wright and John Griffin:

• Book Review # 144790 : "Richard Wright's 'The Outsider': An Existential Examination"
• Analytical Essay # 62698 : "Richard Wright"
• Book Review # 128127 : "Analysis of Richard Wright's "The Man Who Was Almost a Man"

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