Analysis Of Richard Wright

Richard Wright has been referred to me for therapy regarding his theft from the local theater, and I believe that he committed this crime because he believes that because of his station in society he would never be able to support himself and his family through honest means. Despite the fact that he does hold some remorse for his actions, it would appear that whatever remorse he holds is tempered by his justifications for stealing. A thorough analysis of his reasoning has been conducted and with testimony from the patient to serve as my proof, I will begin treatment to show him the error of his ways. Richard Wright maintains the belief that there is a divide in society that separates him from his coworkers and peers. According to Mr. Wright,

Wright demonstrates a very deep sense of honesty; however, he often finds himself abandoning this sense of truthfulness to achieve a favorable outcome. Whenever he sticks to the truth, he is either not taken seriously or punished. Trying to live honestly has done nothing for him except prove to him that he cannot function with that sense of honesty in his society. Mr. Wright lives in a society where he is expected to steal because of the color of his skin. Not once in his life do people attempt to understand that he is a man with opinions, thoughts, and morals. He himself told me “Then how could one live in a world in which one’s mind and perceptions meant nothing and authority and tradition meant everything?” (Black boy, chapter 7). Mr. Wright is even admonished by his fellow black men, who ask him how he expects to live from day to day if he does not steal. “Yet, all about me, Negroes were stealing. More than once I had been called a "dumb nigger" by black boys who discovered that I had not availed myself of a chance to snatch some petty piece of white property that had been carelessly left within my reach. ‘How in hell you gonna git ahead?’ I had been asked when I had said that one ought not steal” (Black Boy, chapter 10). Eventually, he realizes the truth of this. He will not be able to support himself or his family by living honestly, and as such he makes the decision to steal from the theater. He knows that society won’t help him, and as such he must help

Wright attempting to show him the error of his ways, I have seen that Mr. Wright maintains the belief that society is unfair. He had to steal because if he had not, he would have been stuck where he was in the south with no hope of moving up in but life, and the country. His oppression prevents him from doing much of anything, all because of his skin color. Because of the way he was born, he cannot fully appreciate the American dream where he is now. “Whenever I thought of the essential bleakness of black life in America, I knew that Negroes had never been allowed to catch the full spirit of Western civilization, that they lived somehow in it but not of it.” (Black Boy, chapter 2). Mr. Wright feels as though he might be a small fish swimming against a large current trying to get to his destination. Stealing, though he knows it is wrong, to him is the only way to get where he needs to go. He shows remorse for what he has done, but despite that remorse he still believes what he did was right because if he did not do it, he would still be in the south. The reason that Mr. Wright stole those tickets from the theater was to resell them so that he would have enough money to move himself and his family up north, where they may have a better life. He has vowed not to steal again, but he believes it is the only way to move forward. He has a deep sense of independence and responsibility, enough to make him abandon his own morals when he