Major Themes
Throughout the course of the autobiography, Black Boy, by Richard Wright, he experiences a never ending poverty, as he tries to survive in his Jim Crow society. After being abandoned by his father, at a very young age, Richard's mother begins to struggle in poverty, since she's unable to provide any food and a decent education for both Richard and his brother. He then, begins to feel hunger, like he never experienced before. He also has a hunger for education and encounters, enduring obstacles, from his own family, like Granny and Aunt Addie, who always discouraged him about it, saying, "That's the Devil's work!," (Wright 39).
When being deserted by Nathaniel Wright, also known as his father, Ella, Richard's mother, goes into poverty. She is at first unemployed, and is unable to provide food for both her sons. She is also helpless when it came for Richard to have a decent education. He said to himself, "Yes it was true that my father had not come home to sleep for many days...Though I had not known why he was absent, I had been glad that he was not there...But it had never occurred to me that his absence would mean that there would be no food," (Wright 15).
During his lifetime, Richard's hunger, was the highest impact. His constant poverty made providing food difficult, and if not, impossible. He stated himself, "Hunger stole upon me so slowly that at first I was not aware of what hunger really meant...I had began to wake up at night to find hunger standing at my bedside, staring at me gauntly...this new hunger baffled me, scared me, made me angry and insistent...I would feel hunger nudging my ribs, twisting my empty guts until they ached. I would grow dizzy and my vision would dim...and for the first time in my life i had to pause and think of what was happening to me," (Wright 14-15).
Richard saw education as an escape from his horrors, and the answer to his questions of life. Despite the fact of his second class relation (inferior race), he can't help, but compare himself to the life in the books that he reads. The knowledge he gains, gives him, new insights on life and opens his mind to the harshness of the world he lives in. Before he started writing he was influenced by the books of H.L.Mencken, because he was surprised at his dare of debating issues against others without any sense of danger. He was shocked and was beginning get ideas, and said to himself, "...Yes this man was fighting, fighting with words. He was using words as a weapon, using them as one would use a club...maybe perhaps I could use them as a weapon?...I read on and what amazed me was not what he said, but how on Earth anybody had the courage to say it," (Wright 248).
In his lifetime, Richard had to go through the worse times, facing challenges along the way. Poverty, hunger and education, had a huge impact in his life and changed him to the person he is known as today.
Throughout the course of the autobiography, Black Boy, by Richard Wright, he experiences a never ending poverty, as he tries to survive in his Jim Crow society. After being abandoned by his father, at a very young age, Richard's mother begins to struggle in poverty, since she's unable to provide any food and a decent education for both Richard and his brother. He then, begins to feel hunger, like he never experienced before. He also has a hunger for education and encounters, enduring obstacles, from his own family, like Granny and Aunt Addie, who always discouraged him about it, saying, "That's the Devil's work!," (Wright 39).
When being deserted by Nathaniel Wright, also known as his father, Ella, Richard's mother, goes into poverty. She is at first unemployed, and is unable to provide food for both her sons. She is also helpless when it came for Richard to have a decent education. He said to himself, "Yes it was true that my father had not come home to sleep for many days...Though I had not known why he was absent, I had been glad that he was not there...But it had never occurred to me that his absence would mean that there would be no food," (Wright 15).
During his lifetime, Richard's hunger, was the highest impact. His constant poverty made providing food difficult, and if not, impossible. He stated himself, "Hunger stole upon me so slowly that at first I was not aware of what hunger really meant...I had began to wake up at night to find hunger standing at my bedside, staring at me gauntly...this new hunger baffled me, scared me, made me angry and insistent...I would feel hunger nudging my ribs, twisting my empty guts until they ached. I would grow dizzy and my vision would dim...and for the first time in my life i had to pause and think of what was happening to me," (Wright 14-15).
Richard saw education as an escape from his horrors, and the answer to his questions of life. Despite the fact of his second class relation (inferior race), he can't help, but compare himself to the life in the books that he reads. The knowledge he gains, gives him, new insights on life and opens his mind to the harshness of the world he lives in. Before he started writing he was influenced by the books of H.L.Mencken, because he was surprised at his dare of debating issues against others without any sense of danger. He was shocked and was beginning get ideas, and said to himself, "...Yes this man was fighting, fighting with words. He was using words as a weapon, using them as one would use a club...maybe perhaps I could use them as a weapon?...I read on and what amazed me was not what he said, but how on Earth anybody had the courage to say it," (Wright 248).
In his lifetime, Richard had to go through the worse times, facing challenges along the way. Poverty, hunger and education, had a huge impact in his life and changed him to the person he is known as today.