Black Boy - Richard Wright's Portrayal of Himself

Black Boy - Richard Wright's Portrayal of Himself

Black Boy , an autobiography by Richard Wright, is an account of a young

African-American boy's thoughts and outlooks on life in the South while growing

up. The novel is 288 pages, and was published by Harper and Row Publishers in ©

1996. The main subject, Richard Wright, who was born in 1908, opens the book

with a description of himself as a four-year-old in Natchez, Mississippi, and

his family's later move to Memphis. In addition it describes his early

rebellion against parental authority, and his unsupervised life on the streets

while his mother is at work. His family lives in poverty and faces constant

hunger. As a result his family lives with his strict grandmother, a fervently

religious woman. In spite of his frequent punishment and beatings, Wright

remembers the pleasures of rural life.

Richard then describes his family's move to Memphis in 1914. Though not

always successful, Richard's rebellious nature pervades the novel. This is best

illustrated by his rebellion against his father. He resents his father's the

need for quiet during the day, when his father, a night porter, sleeps. When Mr.

Wright tells Richard to kill a meowing kitten if that's the only way he can keep

it quiet, Richard has found a way to rebel without being punished. He takes his

father literally and hangs the kitten. But Richard's mother punishes him by

making him bury the kitten and by filling him with guilt. Another...