Wright's Realization

At the end of the book “Black Boy” Richard Wright comes to a conclusion. Wright realizes America still has a long way to go before equality rings true. Wright says, “It’s going to take a long and bloody time, a lot of stumbling and a lot of falling, before they find the right road. …Until they learn how to live.”p 382. Throughout the entire book Wright is looking for the meaning behind meaningless suffering and how to put a stop to it. By the end of the book Wright has taken on a more resigned and dejected tone. He will continue to try to educate the minority and fight for what he believes is right. His only hope: an answer. I find the ending hopeful yet harshly real at the same time. I agree with Wright, all one can do is not give up and eventually wait for the change that is needed. Wright says he hopes to keep alive in our hearts a sense of the inexpressibly human. I think most people do not realize this quality exists, none the less within them. Wright’s fight is one I wish we all realized we must participate in. Everyone is equal. Everyone deserves equal opportunity for success in life. Unfortunately that is not The United State’s law or government. In response we as a country must not give up our fight for liberty and the right to the pursuit of happiness.

Politicians vs. Artists

Wright states that the artist and the politician stand at opposite ends of the poles in chapter 19. Half of Wright’s reason for this assertion is artists must be emotional and then publicize their emotion. Politicians must be impersonal and logical in life. Both are working for the betterment of mankind and end up struggling over how much help they offer the world. The artist can offer suggestions or other aspects for doing things while the politician sneers at this meager contribution. I happen to agree with Wright. I believe politicians only look at the facts of a country, trying to serve a majority. I believe the artist looks for any and all suffering and tries to embody this suffering in their work. Both occupations influence the other but both worlds never seem to collide.

Art Influence

http://artbozeman.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/kevinconolly-mangirlandboy-clujnapocaromania.jpg

I was about to start a tedious expedition in search of the perfect picture when I was pleasantly surprised. I opened my internet explorer page to my yahoo home page and found the opening news story to be directly related to art.
Kevin Connolly was born with no legs. Rather than succumb to depression and personal defeat, Kevin Connolly chooses to live an exceptional life. He holds an Olympic medal and has traveled through Europe and Asia, feats most Americans have not accomplished. While in Europe, Connolly took a picture of a man he knew was staring at him. This picture eventually evolved into 32,000 photographs of curious onlookers to Connolly’s circumstance.
Connolly says he takes the pictures because when people are looking at him with pity or curiosity or disgust it opens them up. One can see into these people, into their souls. Connolly also he likes to make sure he is not looking at them when he snaps the shot because you get a personal and emotional shot of them.
Connolly’s story completely captured me. (side note: I found it serendipitous that I would find this news article before I even started looking for pictures.) I went though numerous photographs trying to find one that I personally connected with. I decided on a photograph of a little boy and girl and their father. I chose this photo because there is something about the boy’s eyes and demeanor. His upper body is pulling away from the camera and Connolly. Is this out of disgust or fear of what is different? His eyes are drawn which gives him a look of disgust. I doubt the boy actually feels disgust toward Connolly so what are the boy’s eyes saying? I see sadness and shock, a bit of both. I think it is interesting the boy pays complete attention to Connolly while his father and sister seem to be engrossed in other thoughts. His sister is looking through Connolly; slight curiosity shown in her face. His father is not even paying Connolly attention.
I think what is shown in the photographs is important but I think the what is an even greater question. Why do people, such as myself, make such looks toward people that are different? Obviously we are surprised and shocked by what we do not know. I also think we don’t want to understand what we don’t know. I think it’s easier to not try to understand some one else’s pain because that requires letting your guard down and thinking. People don’t want to accept that someone else is in real pain because that would be accepting there is a problem in the world. Accepting there is a problem in the world means a change must be made and that requires work and people don’t want to work.

Parenthetical Passages

Wright has grappled with American ideas throughout the entire first half of his book, Black Boy. He has tried to understand how to live in a white man’s world, how even an established black man is controlled by the white men, and searched for truth in damaged world. By chapter 15 Richard seems to answer his questions more, especially through parenthetical passages. A large part of this chapter is dedicated to Wright describing the women he works with and their goals and views on life. Wright speaks of these goals and dreams then comments on them through a parenthetical passage.
The women Wright works with think only surface thoughts and hope for only simple things. Wright is puzzled by these women’s thoughts and comes to a conclusion. Wright says, “They knew nothing of hate and fear, and strove instinctively to avoid all passion.” What Wright means is they had never lived a life like his, a life that involved survival and intelligence. If you have never been forced to survive and stare gritty life in the face you cannot fathom passion. Wright continues to brew over this thought.
Wright then comes to the conclusion this is the way most people live. Wright says, “The essence of irony of the plight of the negro in America, to me, is that he is doomed to live in isolation while those who condemn him seek the basest goals of any people on the face of the earth.” Wright believes he is oppressed by a culture in which the people have no thoughts of importance or goals of worth. Wright thinks that if his sufferings were for the greater good, “some remote, high, sacrificial end”, he could be reconciled with the white man. But Wright knows they look outwardly, seeking only material objects. I believe this still goes on today.
We endorse only buying “American-made” goods. We push to get illegal immigrants out of this country. Do people not understand America can not flourish alone? Do people not understand the backbone of America is immigrants working the minimum wage jobs we are unwilling to do?

End of Part Deux (isn't that 2 in french?)

At the end of part I Wright decides to move north with Aunt Maggie and his brother and mother. I may have misunderstood the prompt, but I believe this change to be a positive one. Wright was walking down a dangerous road in the South and he was walking closer and closer to getting himself killed. Moving North was safer because in the north he is unnoticed and lost in the gulf of people. The problem with Wrights move north is I think he believes it’s the answer to his problems. Moving north is definitely advantageous to his life but it will not end his trials and tribulations. Even in the north Racism runs deep, a lesson learned when Wright was selling KKK papers. I would like to think Wright’s life gets much easier in Part 2 but from the first half of the book I’ll bet not.

Subservience

Everyone is subservient to someone. I am subservient to almost every adult. The adults are subservient to their bosses and their boss’s bosses. I wish the United States could be a utopian society where everyone worked for the good of the people and there was no class system but that cannot happen. Because humanity is corrupt and it is human nature to seek only personal gain, subservience is necessary in order to live in a harmonious atmosphere. There will always be some race seeking to be the elite. Will it change from Anglo-Saxon to African American or Latin somewhere along the line? I don’t know. I doubt it will change within the next couple hundred years because the minority races of this country have been oppressed for so long. I think subservience is necessary for the education system. Children need to understand they are not in charge and they need to obey their elders. This subservience should be limited and used only with positive reinforcement but is still necessary. Within the adult working environment I don’t know if subservience is necessary. Because the United States is capitalist, someone must always be submissive in the grand scheme of things. In small groups or communities I believe subservience can be eliminated because behavior can be modeled and controlled by the community.

Learn How to Live in the South

In chapter 9 Wright is told to “learn how to live in the south” by his buddy Griggs. What Griggs means is Richard doesn’t even take notice ‘white’ people. To him, they are just people. This is a problem because white people want him to take notice of them, to look submissive when they walk past, to look fearful when they speak to him. Richard simply ignores white people, doesn’t pay them much attention and balks when they do something inappropriate or crude. Griggs tells Richard this because he wants Richard to understand how serious his attitude is. Richard could get killed simply because of his demeanor. If Richard learned how to live in the south he would need to cast his downward in the presence of a white man. Ignore their treatment of black women. Let them practically own him and physically hurt him. Richard knows he cannot give to this treatment so he must move northward in hopes it is better there.

Too Controversial?

What makes Richard a great man and lead character in “Black Boy” is his will. Richard fights for what he believes in, usually causing him to risk his life. Part of Richard’s goal in this book is to receive a good enough education to make a decent amount of money. Money gives you power and freedom, an unfortunate fact of life. The more power and freedom he has the more effective he can be when trying to make a change. Wright’s need to receive a higher education and his challenge of the Southern way of life puts him in a compromising position in chapter eight.
In chapter eight Wright is elected valedictorian of his class and is asked to write a speech for graduation day. Later Wright’s principal asks Wright to read a speech already written. Wright refuses, indignant that his principal would even ask. Wright realizes his principal is just as stuck as he in the south. His job is in jeopardy if Richard doesn’t read the prewritten speech. “I was talking to a “bought” man and he was trying to ‘buy” me.” says Wright.
Richard is justified in refusing to read the speech. If everyone gave in and said, “Welp, that’s just they way things work and there is nothing we can do about it” (cough* objectification of women in the media cough* cough*) there would never be a change in our world. Richard’s goal has always been never to give in, to fight for what he believes is right or wrong. If everyone turned on their brain and woke up to the world around them maybe good ol’ gee-dubya wouldn’t be in office. oops

The Uncle Tom fiasco is less important than the Church disaster

Wright cannot seem to catch a break. In the beginning of chapter six Wright obtains a job from a stupid white woman. She asks him if he steal expecting an honest answer and offers him rotten food. Wright quits the job and eventually gets into a fight with Uncle Tom about discipline. Wright doesn’t know Uncle Tom and Uncle Tom doesn’t know him. Uncle Tom has no right to discipline Wright. Prior to the Uncle Tom scuffle though Wright is literally tricked into getting baptized by the church preacher. I think this was a much more interesting situation in chapter six rather than why Wright is angry with Uncle Tom.
At this point in the book Wright is in school and has made some ‘friends’. He is not close with his classmates yet he longs to be among them. Wright decides to go to the Methodist church with his mother in order to assimilate. While in church one day the pastor asks all nonmembers to stand. Then the pastor asks all these ‘sinners’ to go to the front and sit in the first pew. Both of these actions were done in order to isolate Wright from the rest of the ‘flock’ and to guilt the young men. Most of these young men were with their mothers or relatives. Then to ensure the young men felt the shame, the preacher asks the congregation to pray for these lost souls. THEN the preacher asks the mothers to come and KNEEL DOWN in front of the outcasts and pray for them. The preacher is using an obscure psychological tactic on the adolescents. The preacher is using a primal human instinct against these boys. Since the beginning of time human have wanted to belong, to fit in with a group. It is instinct to move in groups or flocks and live in communities with one another. The preacher is separating the young man from his tribe. In order to belong the nonmember must join the congregation. Then the preacher uses the primal connection one has with their mother. He calls the mother to the front and gives a sermon about all they have done for their children. Then the preacher uses pride, one last primal instinct.
Wright knows the preacher is trying to humiliate and guilt him yet he is trapped. He will hurt himself if he does not join the church and he will hurt his mother. But if he joins, Wright is giving in to what he has fought since the beginning of his life. If Wright believes something is wrong he fights it or stands up to it. Wright is in a position that follows the theme of the whole book. Wright is wrong if he submits and wrong if he challenges.

Gratification

Richard Wright creates the short story about an Indian girl for numerous reasons. Wright lives in a bleak, hopeless world. In an attempt to escape that world Wright writes a short ‘story’ about an Indian girl with no plot or action. Wright then shares his story with a young lady that lives down the street from him. The girl doesn’t understand the story and doesn’t understand why Wright would ever write it. I believe this is why Wright is gratified in writing it.
The girl did not need to understand the story or even praise it. Wright feels his gratification when the woman questions him why he would write it. This is Wright’s justification in his superiority over the woman. Subconsciously Wright knows writing this story is intelligent and an emotional release. He knows he has transcended himself beyond this woman simply in imagining the premise of the story. He stepped into a world this woman could never begin to comprehend. He enjoys her look of confusion and bewilderment because he knows he is beyond her on so many levels. He understands and imagines worlds this woman can’t even comprehend and Wright therefore can move beyond this woman’s intelligence.

How does wright deal with his mother's paralysis?

Wright deals with his mother’s paralysis the same way he deals with life; he adapts. Wright has shown many times throughout his book his ability to survive. He is hungry, he waits. He wants answers, he asks. He is bored, he finds something to do. These three sound like simple obstacles to overcome but in reality Wright went hungry, uneducated, and was left to raise himself for most of his life. His most defining moment though, is when his mother becomes paralyzed. Wright writes to his grandmother asked for help. Then he gets numerous jobs to support himself and put food into his hands. Wright does not break, he continues through life. I think Wright’s attitude toward life is not shared by most.
I think most people will not be able to appreciate all of Wright’s accomplishments because they have never had to endure anything. I have no clue what it I like to watch your own mother die in bed before you are a teenager. I have no clue what it is like to be so helpless that you must get a job in order to feed yourself. I do know I can read this book with an open mind and try to understand all that Wright has gone through. I think that is important in this class. I think we need to listen with open minds and not shut a personal story because one believes they have heard it before. We learn from other people, from sharing ideas and personal experiences. To automatically assume a stance and assume and argument forces you to turn off your brain to all ideas.

What factors play in to Wright's cultrural heritage

Wright taunts and mocks the Jews living in his community along with numerous other black children. Wright calls them “Christ killers” and sings cruel songs about them. Wright justifies his actions through his “cultural heritage”. By ‘cultural heritage’ Wright means the experiences and interactions he had with the people around him, especially the adults.
Wright has known racism his whole life. He notices his mother cooking for white people but he has no food. He hears the news of a ‘white’ man beating a ‘black’ boy. He realizes that it doesn’t matter the color of your skin; if you have any African-American relative, you are black. Wright is beginning to grapple with the knowledge of racism. He is trying to understand it and yet fit into his own culture at the same time. But Wright is realizing his culture is racist as well. As he grows up he learns that he and the white boys are filling their racial roles “as though they were being guided by instinct”. Wright doesn’t flat out say in his book that he knew his racist actions were wrong, but rather illustrates for the reader his lack of understanding at what he was doing.