Black Boy Character Analysis

To understand how development of character is one of the motifs in Black Boy, one can read the first two chapters because Richard and his family faced many changes in their lives. Arguably, two of the most significant changes were that his father abandoned them and that he was constantly starving (two things that a four year old should never experience). Left with no choice, Richard’s mother is forced to take the position of the father, shown in page 30 when she tells him “You just stay right where you are,” she said in a deadly tone. “I’m going to teach you this right to stand up and fight for yourself...I was baffled. My mother was telling me to fight, a thing that she has never done before.” In this situation, Richard’s mother is teaching

him how to fight and defend themselves on the streets, something Mr. Wright would have done (had he stayed). Moreover, the absence of Richard’s father impacts Richard’s life as he is forced to stay at an orphanage and spends time in saloons getting drunk. If Richard had the proper home supervision, he would have had a stable childhood, instead of having to “fight on the streets.” Richard was also exposed to cruel hardships such as hunger, pain (both mental and physical), and abandonment, and had to learn how to fend and “fight for himself” on the streets. This affects his life because he constantly begs for money to buy food, and even attempts to sell his dog Betsy. All in all, the growth and hardships that Richard and his family faced caused them to change drastically, shown when his mother had to take the role as the father.