Richard Wright's Black Boy

Richard Wright, in his autobiography Black Boy, wants not only to tell the story of his life growing up as a black boy and man in the United States under a racist cloud, he also wants to issue a warning to both blacks and whites in this country. He is not trying to portray all whites as evil or all blacks as good, but instead seeks to show how both whites and blacks suffer mightily by being on both the giving and the receiving of racist behavior and treatment. His message is far more humanistic than moralistic. Even when he proposes the political remedy of communism, the message comes from his heart rather than from his fist. He certainly wants to touch the conscience of whites in the United States and hopes that they can change their racist attitudes and practices, but above all he wants to touch their hearts and their humanity. As he writes on the last page of the book:

Yes, the whites were as miserable as their black victims, I thought. If this country can't find its way to a human path, if it can't inform conduct with a deep sense of life, then all of us, black as well as white, are going down the same drain ((Wright 453).

Wright is powerfully and movingly effective in his effort to portray his own life and express his dire fears about the future of the America racially and spiritually primarily because he is so honest about his own experiences and feelings and so humanistic about the conclusions he draws. He does not condemn whites but tries to show how both blacks an

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We come to feel deeply for Wright because the author shows himself to be a complete human being, faults, suffering, rage, longing, hope and all. We are not shown a cardboard figure, but an actual human being whose suffering economically, spiritually, physically, emotionally and psychologically flow directly from the injustices which are integral parts of a racist society which treats blacks as second-class citizens at best. The full portrayal of Wright's rage---against both whites and blacks, and against members of his own family---is an essential part of the success of the story. The journey Wright takes is one from pain and suffering to love and at least a measure of hope. He starts the book with the story of his burning down his family's home in an act of rebellious rage which he cannot begin to even understand (4-5). However, he ends the book pleading with readers and citizens black and white to love one another or else risk the destruction of the entire nation and everyone in it. This is a tremendous distance to have travelled in a lifetime. Certainly the essence of such a message is that if a boy and man in Wright's position can transcend rage and hatred and agony and arrive at a place of love and hope and compassion--fo

Category: Literature - R