The Street By Richard Wright Theme Essay

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Recommended: Themes In Black Boy By Richard Wright

One does not simply pass through life without the presence of suffering and tribulation. This theme is delineated in the excerpt “The Street” from the novel Black Boy, written by Richard Wright. The memoir focuses on the life of a young Richard Wright and the hardships he has come to face within his childhood. During his adolescence, his family was struck by poverty due to the absence of his father, he was left alone to face many responsibilities, and was even forced to fight for himself against violent antagonists. The theme, life is an assessment of one’s true strength is portrayed through the literary elements of conflict and plot.
To begin, theme emerges within the exposition of the plot structure as conflict is introduced to the text. …show more content…

This concept is evident during the time in which Wright’s mother began working to raise money for her family. However, in the process of doing so, Wright’s mother had no other choice than to leave her children alone with much maturity and responsibility to take on. Wright depicts these harsh times as so, “[sometimes, when she was in despair, she would call us to her and talk to us for hours, telling us how we had no father, that our lives would be different from those of other children, that we must learn as soon as possible to take care of ourselves, to dress ourselves, to prepare our own food; that we must take upon ourselves the responsibility of the flat while she worked” (Wright 3). In regards to this, Wright come to face even more obstacles as his life pursued. For instance, whilst having to support his emotionally unstable mother, Wright had to learn to “take care of [himself]” during the time in which “she worked”. The conflict within his family grown so large that it had come to the point of him behaving “differently] from [...] other children”. With this in mind, the theme, life consists of everlasting suffering is reformed as the plot and conflict

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