Overcoming Fear In Richard Wright's Black Boy

785 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effects of racial discrimination in society

A wise man one said bravery does not come from the lack of fear but rather the willingness to face those fears and overcome them. In the autobiography Black Boy by Richard Wright, Richard had to overcome his fear of reality. The autobiography shows that overcoming fear can be difficult. This is important because people fear making decisions and the consequences that comes with those decisions. If people do not overcome their fear it can kill their chances in life and make them look back and regret.
The fear of being alone without the nurture of those one loves can make it very difficult to move through life. Wright says “I was afraid to go into the streets alone.” (Wright 1016). He overcame his fear of being in the streets by standing up for …show more content…

Wright said "The women killed something in me." (Wright 1021). Miss Simon tried to win Wright's trust, but she was unsuccessful as she managed to make him feel incredibly insecure about himself. The situation only got worse once she punished Wright, killing a part of himself, and changing him. "Each morning I vowed that I would leave the next morning, but the next morning always found me afraid." (Wright 1021). The fear of the unknown is a strong motivator, even more so when combined with the fear of having to accept fault should something go wrong. Despite this, he was strong enough to not let the fear rule him and his life, and instead he left for what he felt was best for him. "A "white" policeman came to me and I wondered if he was going to beat me" (Wright 1022). Wright knew that he had to be careful, as the policeman could prove to be racist and beat him for being black. This insecurity was created by the white supremecy that ruled over life in the U.S, but he was able to over his fears by not allowing this narrative rule over him. Overcoming fear is a difficult obstacle for any person to do, but leaving it alone will not accomplish

Show More
Related

  • Use of Rhetorical Strategies in Richard Wright’s Autobiography, Black Boy

    468 Words  | 1 Pages

    Use of Rhetorical Strategies in Richard Wright’s Autobiography, Black Boy. Richard Wright grew up in a bitterly racist America. In his autobiography Black Boy, he reveals his personal experience with the potency of language. Wright delineates the efficacious role language plays in forming one’s identity and social acceptance through the ingenious use of various rhetorical strategies.

    Read More

  • Use of Rhetorical Appeals and Diction in Richard Wright’s Autobiographical Work, Black Boy

    535 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his autobiographical work, Black Boy, Richard Wright wrote about his battles with hunger, abuse, and racism in the south during the early 1900's. Wright was a gifted author with a passion for writing that refused to be squelched, even when he was a young boy. To convey his attitude toward the importance of language as a key to identity and social acceptance, Wright used rhetorical techniques such as rhetorical appeals and diction.

    Read More

  • Prejudice Explored in "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

    874 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a country full of inequities and discriminations, 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 discriminations and hunger, and finally his decision of moving 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. In this book, the lives of two wealthy American citizens and two illegal immigrants collided. Delaney and Kyra were whites living in a pleasurable home, with the constant worry that Mexicans would disturb their peaceful, gated community. Candido and America, on the other hand, came to America to seek job opportunities and a home but ended up camping at a canyon, struggling even for cheapest form of life. They were prevented from any kind of opportunities because they were Mexicans. The differences between the skin colors of these two couples created the hugest gap between the two races. Despite the difficulties American and Candido went through, they never reached success like Wright did. However, something which links these two illegal immigrants and this African American together is their determination to strive for food and a better future. For discouraged minorities struggling in a society plagued with racism, their will to escape poverty often becomes their only motivation to survive, but can also acts as the push they need toward success.

    Read More

  • How Did African Americans Influence Richard Wright

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    “I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of the hunger for life that gnaws in us all, to keep alive in our hearts a sense of the inexpressibly human.” (Richard Wright) In 1945 an intelligent black boy named Richard Wright made the brave decision to write and publish an autobiography illustrating the struggles, trials, and tribulations of being a Negro in the Jim Crow South. Ever since Wright wrote about his life in Black Boy many African American writers have been influenced by Wright to do the same. Wright found the motivation and inspiration to write Black Boy through the relationships he had with his family and friends, the influence of folk art and famous authors of the early 1900s, and mistreatment of blacks in the South and uncomfortable racial barriers.

    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

  • Theme Of Hunger In Richard Wright's Black Boy

    549 Words  | 2 Pages

    First, Wright’s prevalent hunger is for knowledge. This hunger sets him apart from those around him, which drives the path created by their differences further between them. Nevertheless, it gives Wright’s life significance and direction.

    Read More

  • The Environment In Richard Wright's Black Boy

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mostly everyone wants to live a successful life, but how can one achieve that? It's not simple to achieve your goals especially when there's several things interfering. There will be obstacles that you need to overcome in order to get where you would like to be in life. One major factor that contributes to your actions is your environment. You may think your environment does not really affect your life, but in reality your environment is one of the most important factors.

    Read More

  • Hunger in Richard Wright's Black Boy

    969 Words  | 2 Pages

    more or less at my elbow when I played, but now I began to wake up at night

    Read More

  • Richard Wright’s novel, Black Boy

    946 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Richard Wright’s novel, Black Boy, Richard is struggling to survive in a racist environment in the South. In his youth, Richard is vaguely aware of the differences between blacks and whites. He scarcely notices if a person is black or white, and views all people equally. As Richard grows older, he becomes more and more aware of how whites treat blacks, the social differences between the races, and how he is expected to act when in the presence of white people. Richard, with a rebellious nature, finds that he is torn between his need to be treated respectfully, with dignity and as an individual with value and his need to conform to the white rules of society for survival and acceptance.

    Read More

  • Use of Diction and Imagery in Richard Wright’s Black Boy

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    Black Boy, which was written by Richard Wright, is an autobiography of his upbringing and of all of the trouble he encountered while growing up. Black Boy is full of drama that will sometimes make the reader laugh and other times make the reader cry. Black Boy is most known for its appeals to emotions, which will keep the reader on the edge of his/her seat. In Black Boy Richard talks about his social acceptance and identity and how it affected him. In Black Boy, Richard’s diction showed his social acceptance and his imagery showed his identity.

    Read More

  • Heroic Sisters in In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

    680 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bravery isn't having no fear; it is accepting and welcoming your fears and getting past

    Read More

  • Racial Profiling In Richard Wright's Autobiography 'Black Boy'

    1176 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wright would likely have little trust in police officers because of the racial profiling he is likely to experience due to being black. This situation would be similar to how it was like in the past, as the authorities did nothing to halt racial violence in the south. From Wright’s point of view, police would seem dangerous instead of protective, since he used to be targeted by police in the south. Wright’s autobiography would talk about how Wright is pulled over more than his friends of other ethnicities, just because of his race. According to Kia Makerechi’s article, “What the Data Really Says about Police and Racial Bias,” blacks made up about 83% of the stops made by police in New York, which indicates that the authorities are racially biased against Africans Americans.

    Read More

  • Coming of Age in Richard Wright's Black Boy

    713 Words  | 2 Pages

    Boy was written as a scripture of one's coming of age as well as a seized

    Read More

  • Conformity And Stereotypes In Richard Wright's 'Black Boy'

    712 Words  | 2 Pages

    THESIS → In the memoir Black Boy by Richard Wright, he depicts the notion of how conforming to society’s standards one to survive within a community, but will not bring freedom nor content.

    Read More

  • Emotion and Diction in Richard Wright’s Book Black Boy

    595 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout Richard Wright’s book Black Boy, which represented his life, Richard used great emotion to show us how he was and what he may have been feeling. He also referred the book to his own life by using examples and making them as evidence in the book. His techniques and diction in this book gave a fire to his writing and a voice towards how it was for him growing up.

    Read More

More about Overcoming Fear In Richard Wright's Black Boy

Open Document