Black Boy By Richard Wright

The conflicts between man and bigotry have caused casualties within man, which caused them to become victims. In the novel Black Boy Richard Wright explores the struggles throughout his life has been the victim of abuse from his coworkers, family, and his classmates, due to this he is able to return his pain and he becomes a victimizer.

Wright depicts the victimizing tendencies of the members of his dysfunctional family. In the beginning Wright a first notice something is wrong with his family when his father goes to work and never comes back. This instance confused Wright making him unstable and untamed without restrictions. The next time Wright sees his father is during court when his mother was asking him to pay child support. This is the moment that Wright feels resentment for his father when he sees his father smiling throughout the court conflict while his mother was crying. Another occasion where Wright becomes a victim is when his mother makes Wright to accompany her to ask his father for money. When they were ready to ask his father for the money they found him with another woman getting “comfortable”. As Wrights’ mother asks for the money his father laughs at them and says he doesn’t have any money. When the woman that his father is with looks at Wright she says Wright was cute and that his father should give him something. This causes Wright to become embarrassed and hurt because when that woman told his father to give him something the only thing his father would give him was a nickel. The moment that Wright becomes a victim is when his father laughed and put the nickel back into his pocket. Another instance, which happens throughout the novel, is the verbal actions taken toward Wright. Throughout this whole novel the readers see that his family yells at Wright at least once a day. All of that yelling has to victimize Wright because it had the reader’s attention. Through all of his trouble at home Wright turned is fear into anger and in turn became the victimizer. One instance is when he takes out razor blades and threatens them again his uncle. Then there was an occasion when he killed a cat just because his father told him to kill it in a sarcastic way. Another time was when he physically fought his aunt because she was trying to beat him.