Characters and Themes in Black Boy
The novel, Black Boy is Richard Wright's autobiographical account of his life beginning with his earliest memories and ending with his departure for the North at age nineteen. In Black Boy, Wright tells of an unsettled family life that takes him from Natchez, Mississippi, to Memphis, Tennessee, back to Jackson, Mississippi, then to Arkansas, back again to Mississippi, and finally to Memphis once more, where he prepares for his eventual migration to Chicago.
Most critics agree that Black Boy is a highly selective account, more selective than the term "record" in its subtitle suggests. At the time Wright wrote Black Boy, he was already an accomplished author of fiction. He had published a collection of short stories called Uncle Tom's Children and the highly successful novel Native Son. Wright chose carefully the experiences he includes in Black Boy, the ones he highlights, and the tone in which he writes about them. Many readers even think that he invents some of the incidents. Most agree, however, that Wright crafts his autobiography for the precise impact he wants.
Of course, the central character of Black Boy is young Richard Wright. To distinguish between this young character and the author looking back on him many years later and even occasionally inventing incidents about him, this guide follows the standard practice of referring to the former as "Richard" and the latter as "Wright." Wright presents Richard rebellious youth. Usually hungry and malnourished, he loves to retreat into the imaginary world of the novels he reads. Richard refuses to accept the strict religion of his grandmother and even rejects his mother's more moderate religious faith. As he gets older, he also stands up to the discipline his aunts and uncles impose on him and threatens to retaliate with physical violence. Later, the feisty, independent spirit Richard develops at home leads him to refuse to accept the codes of behavior the white world has set for Southern blacks. And when Richard finally decides to become a writer, that career represents a declaration of independence from those in the black community who ridiculed his ambitions and a declaration of war on the white racists who have oppressed him.
In the early chapters of Black Boy, the other important characters
are the members of Richard's family. Richard's female relatives are
more significant in his life than the males. His mother often
disciplines him harshly, but the discipline clearly stems from her
love. Abandoned by her husband and unable to establish economic
independence from her strict mother, she suffers greatly. Her misery
is increased by a stroke that ruins her health. Young Richard misses
her during her illness and is deeply moved by her pain.
Richard gets along well with his Aunt Maggie, who, like his
mother, is trying hard not to be dependent on Richard's grandmother.
But he clashes angrily with his Aunt Addie, a strict Sunday School
instructor who is determined to break Richard's independent spirit. He
also has a difficult relationship with Granny, a deeply religious
woman who seems to be genuinely worried about the state of Richard's
soul. She is always ready to aid a family member in need, and she
takes in Richard and his mother during Mrs. Wright's illness. But
her conception of Richard's welfare does not consider his happiness an
important issue. Much of Richard's rebellious spirit seems to
develop from his struggle against Granny's rules.
On the other hand, Richard's father is important primarily for
abandoning him and his mother and thus causing much of their
deprivation. He seems to be a simple and somewhat selfish man with
little interest in the effect of his behavior on his family. Three
uncles also play a role in young Richard's life. Uncle Hoskins is a
successful businessman willing to defy the whites who threaten him. He
is generous with Richard and his mother, and his violent death is
Richard's first brutal lesson in racism. Uncle Clark is another of the
more prosperous members of the family. While he is quite willing to
help Richard by feeding, clothing, and housing him, he is cool and
unaffectionate and shows no understanding of Richard's fears and
emotional needs. Uncle Tom, though, is one of the less successful
uncles. Forced by his difficult financial situation to return to
Granny's, Tom's insistence on becoming a disciplinarian to Richard
seems to stem from his own sense of failure and humiliation. Richard's
younger brother, Leon, doesn't seem very important in Richard's
life. He doesn't share Richard's rebellious spirit and goes to live
with Aunt Maggie after Mrs. Wright's illness.
Later in Black Boy, several other characters become significant. The
principal of Richard's school tries to force Richard to abandon a
speech the young man has written himself and to read the principal's
speech instead. The principal sees himself as a successful black man
who is only trying to help Richard escape the poverty to which he
seems destined. But Richard considers the principal a failure
because he does not challenge the codes of behavior that whites have
set for blacks. Pease and Reynolds are two white optical workers who
are quite friendly to Richard as long as he keeps his place and
shows no interest in bettering himself. But they respond with
vicious terror when he shows some interest in learning their skills.
Shorty is an intelligent black worker who is willing to play the clown
for the entertainment of whites. He thinks he is putting something
over on the whites by making them believe he is a buffoon, and he is
proud of his ability to get the whites to give him money. At times,
however, he reveals his discouragement with the undignified way he
is forced to live.
Black Boy attacks the racism of the South during the period Wright
was growing up there (1908-1927). Many of the hardships of Wright's
family life are direct or indirect results of racial discrimination.
Once Wright enters the world of work, he finds racism pervasive and
intolerable. The book concludes with Wright's fleeing the South and
the racist conditions he has been forced to endure there.
Many critics think the central focus of Wright's story is on his
development into an artist and intellectual. From this perspective,
the book is about the influences that shape Wright's desire to be a
writer, the experiences that mold his creative outlook, and the
obstacles he must overcome to escape the limited environment in
which he is growing up. These critics feel that many of Wright's
hardships are those of any sensitive and rebellious individual in a
world that doesn't respect those qualities. They see the novel's
conclusion less as a flight from racism and more as a move toward a
new career and identity as a writer.
Black Boy portrays the deprivation Wright faces growing up. It shows
poverty, hunger, lack of emotional support, miserable living
conditions, and Richard's response to these difficulties. The book
also considers family life. For Richard, home is a place of intense
emotional conflict, and his family forces him to fight back constantly
in order to be able to pursue his own path. But the family also offers
support in times of crisis, for example, when his mother has a stroke.
Black Boy also considers Richard's rebellion. Richard's relatives
criticize him for not conforming to their standards of proper
behavior. Later, some of his friends criticize him for not acting as
whites expect him to. But Richard defies all of them and continues
on his rebellious course. Another theme is religion. Richard sees
religion as meaningless at best and oppressive at worst. But he also
finds some religious stories and imagery appealing. Wright also
comments on the emotional life of Southern blacks. He is critical of
the black community for what he sees as its emotional and cultural
bleakness. But he also blames much of this bleakness on racism.
Black Boy considers the theme of isolation too. Wright is often alone,
and his loneliness is a source of both strength and unhappiness.
Finally, Black Boy looks at the differences between urban and rural
life. For Wright, the move to the city is liberating, but he seems
to look back on country life with some nostalgia too.
Black Boy is structured around the education of its central
character. It's not a random or a comprehensive record of events.
Wright chooses his incidents and structures his autobiography in
such a way as to emphasize the gradual progress of Richard's journey
toward self-awareness and knowledge of the world around him.
Narrated in the first person, the book usually adheres to the point of
view of young Richard but occasionally changes to that of the mature
author who comments on his past with the knowledge he has gained in
the intervening years. Of his style in Black Boy, Wright later said
that he wanted to make the reader "forget words and be conscious
only of his response," that he even wanted to make words
"disappear." In Black Boy Wright seems to be striving to state facts
as plainly as possible. Do you think he succeeds? Do you find this
goal desirable? Does Wright ever lapse from this goal?
The setting of Black Boy is particularly important. Though the
book moves from one Southern city to another, from the Deep South to
Memphis, Tennessee, and from almost all-black communities to
workplaces dominated by whites, it is entirely set in the South.
Wright had originally wanted the book to describe his life in
Chicago as well, but his publisher decided only to accept the Southern
portion. As a result, the book becomes in part an indictment of the
South and of its oppressiveness toward blacks.
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