Themes Of Racial Discrimination In Big Black Good Man By Richard Wright

706 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Racial discrimination in the 20th century

Racial discrimination, oppression, and poverty, these are the main themes that Richard Wright recalls within his stories. Wright grew up in Mississippi during a time of extreme hardships and prejudice. He is the son of a sharecropper and the grandson of slaves (“Wright Biography” 1). His background and experiences are incorporated into his stories and offer a glimpse into the uncontrollable crime of being too big, too black, and simply too scary. Wright’s narrative “Big Black Good Man”, tells the story of how being a certain way instantly conveys a preconceived opinion. In the beginning, the protagonist Olaf is filled with fear and repulsion at the sight of Jim, a black giant. Olaf’s thoughts, views, and negative descriptions of Jim further …show more content…

To Olaf, Jim is seen as nothing more than a “huge black thing” ( Wright 209). Jim is given animal characteristics which in turn dehumanize him (Gale 6). The best representation of this is seen on page 213 when Olaf carefully gives Jim the money. Olaf is so disgusted that he does everything in his power to avoid touching Jim (Wright 213). After all, Jim is nothing more than a beast with “gorilla like arms” and “mammoth hands” (Wright 213). Olaf’s fear continues to describe Jim as a nightmare. Olaf is harsh with his choice of words and uses insults to make himself feel better. Olaf’s reactions and quickness to deem Jim a bad man show his inability to rightfully judge people. At first glance, Olaf is convinced that Jim is a cruel and threatening man. This unprovoked opinion is linked to Jim’s appearance and does not reflect the true man that he is. Analysis of Olaf’s feelings and thoughts depict the prejudiced nature of a white man against a too big, too black, and too scary American sailor. As stated, it is neither Jim’s skin color nor size that irritates Olaf, but the combination of the two (Gale 5). After all, as Olaf sums up, “God oughtn’t make men as big and black as that” (Wright 211). The intoleration of men is linked to a prejudiced opinion and belief that everyone should act and behave like them. It is this same belief that filled Olaf and made him judge Jim before getting to know

Show More
Related

  • Racial Injustice in the Book A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines

    522 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines takes place in Louisiana in the 1940’s. When a young African American man named Jefferson is unfairly sentenced to death, school teacher Grant Wiggins is sent to try to make Jefferson a man before he dies. Throughout the novel, racial injustice is shown in both Jefferson and Grant’s lives in the way other people view them.

    Read More

  • The Use of an Offensive Word in The Adventures of Huck Finn by Mark Twain

    623 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Adventures of Huck Finn is a very controversial book which brings much debate on whether it should be taught to children in America. The main reason for this debate is because the offensive word ‘nigger’ is used commonly throughout. The book is a classic and is seen to some people as such a great book that we should overlook the offensive word to understand the real lessons Mark Twain wanted to get across. One solution to this ongoing debate is something called the New South Edition, which substitutes ‘nigger’ for a ‘slave’ a word that is less personal and describes the history of America. Dr. Alan Gribben writes about the controversy and how the change effects the new edition. He uses personal anecdote, emotional appeal, historical references.

    Read More

  • Prejudice Explored in "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

    874 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a country full of inequities and discrimination, numerous books were written to depict our unjust societies. One of the many books is an autobiography by Richard Wright. In Black Boy, Wright shares these many life-changing experiences he faced, which include the discovery of racism at a young age, the fights he put up against discrimination and hunger, and finally his decision to move Northward to a purported better society. Through these experiences, which eventually led him to success, Wright tells his readers the cause and effect of racism, and hunger. In a way, the novel The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle illustrates similar experiences.

    Read More

  • Bigger as a Black Everyman in Native Son

    721 Words  | 2 Pages

    Just as Max did in defending Bigger during his trial and inevitable conviction, Wright uses Bigger as an example for how African Americans have been treated.  True, the vast majority of African Americans do not commit the awful crimes which Bigger has committed, but the crimes themselves, and in fact the details of Bigger's life are not really that important in the scheme of thin...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Black Boy Today By Richard Wright

    1368 Words  | 3 Pages

    How far has the United States come towards establishing equality between whites and black? Well our founding fathers did not establish equality. Here is s a clue, they are also called the Reconstruction Amendments; which were added during the Reconstruction era following the Civil War. Recall that the Declaration of Independence was signed July 4th 1776, while the Reconstruction Amendments were the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments; they were added during the periods of 1865-1870. This is nearly a ten-decade period. Despite of these amendments we still have not achieved equality among blacks and whites. How much longer will it take? Well we are in the year 2015 and yet have a lot of ground to cover. Richard Wright was born after the Civil Rights, but before the Civil Rights Movement. If he were to write a novel titled Black Boy today, he would write about how racial profiling

    Read More

  • "Passing" in James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

    1106 Words  | 3 Pages

    Considering the circumstance of racial inequality during the time of this novel many blacks were the target of crime and hatred. Aside from an incident in his youth, The Ex-Colored Man avoids coming in contact with “brutality and savagery” inflicted on the black race (Johnson 101). Perhaps this is a result of his superficial white appearance as a mulatto. During one of his travels, the narrator observes a Southern lynching in which he describes the sight of “slowly burning t...

    Read More

  • Representing Whiteness In The Black Imagination By Bell Hooks Summary

    1257 Words  | 3 Pages

    “…it is said that there are inevitable associations of white with light and therefore safety, and black with dark and therefore danger…’(hooks 49). This is a quote from an article called ‘Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination’ written by bell hooks an outstanding black female author. Racism has been a big issue ever since slavery and this paper will examine this article in particular to argue that whiteness has become a symbol of terror of the black imagination. To begin this essay I will summarize the article ‘Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination’ and discuss the main argument of the article. Furthermore we will also look at how bell hooks uses intersectionality in her work. Intersectionality is looking at one topic and

    Read More

  • Richard Wright's Big Boy Leaves Home

    2258 Words  | 5 Pages

    Richard Wright’s “Big Boy Leaves Home” confronts a young black person’s forced maturation at the hands of unsympathetic whites. Through his almost at times first person descriptions, Wright makes Big Boy a hero to us. Big Boy hovers between boyhood and adulthood throughout the story, and his innocence is lost just in time for him to survive. Singled out for being larger than his friends, he is the last to stand, withstanding bouts with white men, a snake, and a dog, as we are forced to confront the different levels of nature and its inherent violence.

    Read More

  • Deja Moss Draft

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    Richard Wright introduces the main character in his novel, “Native Sun”, as a poor black man, named Bigger Thomas, living in the ghetto. In book 1 “fear”, I analyzed how Bigger lived and learned who his true character was. I also learned how he felt towards himself, family, and his friends. Bigger Thomas’ character is a very angry and violent person towards anyone who makes him feel afraid or out of place. Richard Wright uses imagery, sentence syntax, and symbolism to express how Bigger Thomas truly thinks.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Racism In John Wright's Black Boy

    1309 Words  | 3 Pages

    In describing his fierce, albeit short-lived interaction with Uncle Tom, Wright demonstrates that his deepest struggles are not against racism, but against members of his own family. Having recognized Wright’s academic potential, Uncle Tom, a former schoolteacher, desires to be a guiding force in Wright’s life. Indeed, with the intention of being a father figure that he believes Wright desperately needs, he seeks to teach Wright “a lesson in how to live with people” – both as a black boy living in the South and as a son whose mother’s illness demands that he becomes a man (Wright 159) . Wright makes it clear, however, that the misguided Uncle Tom is incapable of instilling any values that he deems worthy. Instead, he characterizes Uncle Tom as being competent of teaching him only one thing—inexplicable violence of the kind that white mobs

    Read More

  • Bigger Thomas as America’s Native Son

    1231 Words  | 3 Pages

    The novel is loaded with a plethora of imageries of a hostile white world. Wright shows how white racism affects the behavior, feelings, and thoughts of Bigger.

    Read More

  • Big Black Good Man

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    Upon first meeting him Olaf was dumbstruck, Jim was unlike anybody he had ever encountered. It was not like Olaf had never seen a person of color but this situation seemed threatening to him, “Olaf took in all comers−blacks, yellows, whites, and browns… To Olaf, men were men, and, in his day, he’d worked and eaten and slept and fought with all kinds of men. But this particular black man… Well he didn’t seem human,” (351). The statement of Jim not appearing to be human is blatantly derogatory. Olaf dehumanized him so he would not feel as bad for his substandard treatment of him; he stopped referring to Jim as a “him” in many parts of the story, rather, he began to call him “the giant.” For example, in paragraphs 31, 34, 36, and multiple others, Jim is simply referred to as “the giant.” Wright is expressing how racism can cause people to treat other ethnicities as anything other than human; after all, would it not be easier to deny a room to a giant rather than a normal

    Read More

  • Social Realism In Ralph Ellison's Views Of Charles W. White

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his one of his most renowned short stories entitled “Battle Royal,” Ellison takes social realism from art to pen and paper, reflecting on the race, class and gender conflicts that the narrator must come to grips with as a “black man in white America.” In the story, the narrator, a young black high school graduate comes to the realization that he is an “invisible man.” The short story tells of the strange events leading up to this realization.

    Read More

  • Autobiography Of An Ex-Colored Man Essay

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    The narrator of The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man was born to a “colored” mother and white father. This combination of his identity led him to encounter many internal and external challenges. Physically he appeared white, so he experienced being able to “pass” as both “colored” or white whenever he wished. Being able do such a thing, the narrator struggled with racial boundaries. He embodied almost every permutation, intentional or unintentional, of the experience when encountering various racial (white and “colored”) communities, eventually deciding to pass as white at the end of the novel. Due to cowardice, instead of representing his race, he suppressed the African-American part of his identity and destroyed his chances of achieving true contentedness and self-awareness.

    Read More

  • Black Boy And Native Son Racism Essay

    632 Words  | 2 Pages

    For a long time in history, racism has played an important role. In America, racism practically shapes our nation how it is today. Richard Wright wrote two novels about how racism was portrayed back in the early twentieth century. These novels, Black Boy and Native Son, both explore the racism that African Americans experience. How two of the protagonists experienced racism firsthand, how society viewed racism, and Wright's own views on racism in the North are explored in this essay.

    Read More

More about Themes Of Racial Discrimination In Big Black Good Man By Richard Wright

Open Document