Conformity And Stereotypes In Richard Wright's 'Black Boy'

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THESIS → In the memoir Black Boy by Richard Wright, he depicts the notion of how conforming to society’s standards one to survive within a community, but will not bring freedom nor content. TOPIC #1: Society pressures [CONTEXT]: [Richard is on a Jim Crow coach going northward on his way to Memphis] QUOTE SELECTION: Slowly the burden I had carried for many months lifted somewhat. My cheeks itched and when I scratched them I found tears. In that moment I understood the pain that accompanied crime and I hoped that I would never have to feel it again. I never did feel it again, for I never stole again; and what kept me from it was the knowledge that, for me, crime carried its own punishment. Well, it’s my life, I told myself. I’ll see now …show more content…

[CONTEXT]: [Richard is thinking about the concept of stealing after he realizes that Griggs, and many of his other black coworkers are stealing to make up for their scanty wages] QUOTE SELECTION: But I, who stole nothing, who wanted to look them straight in the face, who wanted to talk and act like a man, inspired fear in them. The southern whites would rather have had Negroes who stole, work for them than Negroes who knew, however dimly, the worth of their own humanity. Hence, whites placed a premium upon black deceit; they encouraged irresponsibility; and their rewards were bestowed upon us blacks in the degree that we could make them feel safe and superior. EXPLANATION: Feeling the need to be superior over blacks, Whites would prefer uneducated and thieving blacks over blacks that had knowledge because these blacks had self consciousness and knew “the worth of their own humanity.” Whites were scared of educated blacks because of their knowledge of their surroundings and that they had a worth in life. Blacks “who knew,” understand that they do not have to succumb to the whites and that they were not inferior in anyway at

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