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.