The Importance Of Religion In Phillis Wheatley And Richard Wright

For centuries religion has played a huge role in the black community. From slavery to freedom, religion has help black folk deal with their anger, pain, oppression, sadness, fear, and dread. Recognizing the said importance of religion in the black community, Black poets and writers like Phillis Wheatley and Richard Wright, use religion as an important motif in their literature. Wheatley uses religion as a way to convince her mostly white audience of how religious conversion validates the humanity of herself and others. Wright on the other hand, uses religion in order to demonstrate how religion, as uplifting as it is can fail the black community. Thinking through, both Wheatley and Wright’s writings it becomes apparent that religion is so complex,

Wright grew up in the Jim Crow South where everything about his life was socially and culturally inferior to the white masses. In Bloom’s Modern Critical Views Richard Wright, Qiana J. Whitted wrote about Wright’s life as a kid, shedding light on how his grandmother forced him to partake in religious in order to be saved from “religious execution” (123). It was this type of religious interpretation held by his grandmother, that was a “cultural marker” for Wright, reminding us, “that in his life, as in his writing, Richard Wright wrestled with his faith” (122). This struggle can be seen in Wright’s male character, Big Boy, in Big Boy Leaves Homes. Big Boy and his friends go to swimming creek where they see and are saw by a white woman. With the woman, was a white man who shot at Big Boy and his friends. Big Boy wrestles with Jim over the gun and ends up shooting and killing him. In panic, he runs home to retell the story of the murder he committed and the ones he witnessed. As he tells the story, his father sends for some of the religious members in the community. During this time Big Boy’s mother calls out several times for mercy, “Lawd Gawd in Heaven, have mercy on us all!” (36). The religious community members become a fist around Big Boy and come up with a plan for saving his life. In the midst of this Big Boy experiences an internal conflict with his actions and how they look in the eyes of God.

Religion plays an important role in the attempt to get to a safer place, as Brother Mann often prays to God when in his distress: "When it rains it pos. But, Lawd, ef only tha old levee don break" (63). The story takes religion further, by introducing Elderll Murray, who at one point, has everyone down on their knees praying for mercy in the midst of the stealing, killing, the flood and the white hatred. “Lawd, Yuh said call on Yo name n Yuhd answer!...N soften the hard hearts of them white folks there in town, Lawd! Purify their hearts!” (72). As this prayer is happening, Brother Mann, like Big Boy, starts to grapple with an internal conflict, “for he wanted to be in that boat” because “He would not feel safe until her was in that boat”(72). At one point, Mann even thought about asking Elderll Murray if they could switch boats, but he refrained, because religiously speaking he had committed a sin by thieving. Though he was wrong for stealing the boat his actions were justifiable because structurally he would not have received help because of his blackness. Against those ethics, the black church is powerless. It becomes an obstacle. Note, prayers did help emotionally, but they did not provide concrete and tangible answers to the larger problem- The ethics of Jim Crow