The Impact of Language on Identity and Social Acceptance in Richard Wright’s Novel, Black Boy
The entire act, the entire situation, the entire experience of discovery is not only unique to each and every individual, but more importantly, a thrilling tumult of emotions gone haywire and perceptions completely altered. Richard Wright, in his autobiographical work Black Boy, attempts to convey the discovery of nothing less than language itself. Employing a wide variety of rhetorical devices and insightful commentaries, Wright expertly conveys his newfound respect for language and its tangible impact on both identity and social acceptance.
Perhaps most notable throughout the passage is Wright’s use of rhetorical questions to both outline his whirling thought processes at the time and create a sense of the urgency in his audience. “Why did he write like that? And how did one write like that?…What was this?” By providing answers to some of his own questions and the allowing the readers to do so for themselves for the rest, Wright engages the readers, bringing them along for the ride of discovery. “Who were these men?” Wright asks, “Who was Anatole France? Joseph Conrad? Sinclair Lewis, Dostoevsky, Moore, Gustave Flaubert, Maupassant, Tolstoy, Frank Harris, Mark Twain…” In fact, an entire paragraph is dedicated to these the listing of these authors, whose names were meant to both intrigue the audience and create a sense of fascination. The fast-paced, almost tumultuous wave of new perceptions conveys Wright’s newfound awe over the effect effective use of language could have.
Wright’s choice of diction, chosen to convey both imagery and invoke ethos also proves to be effective. He describes Mencken as he pictured him at the time, active and in a furor, “a raging demon, slashing with his pen, consumed with hate, denouncing everything American, extolling everything European… laughing…mocking.” These words, full of fierce emotions, conveys exactly how deeply Wright feels the language of Mencken. With the forming of a realization that one’s use of language could impact how others saw one, and perhaps even influence what one truly was, Wright describes how his impulse to dream of writing “surged up again…I hungered for books, new ways of looking and seeing.
Richard Wright grew up in a bitterly racist America. In his autobiography Black Boy, he reveals his personal experience with the potency of language. Wright delineates the efficacious role language plays in forming one’s identity and social acceptance through an ingenious use of various rhetorical strategies.
Griffin strikes all of these aspects in her essay. What is most compelling about the essay, however, is the way Griffin incorporated personal, family, and world history into a chilling story of narrative and autobiography, without ever losing the factual evidence the story provided. The chapter reads like an entire novel, which helps the audience to understand the concepts with a clear and complete view of her history, not needing to read any other part of the book. Two other authors, Richard Rodriguez, and Ralph Ellison, who write about their experiences in life can possibly be better understood as historical texts when viewed through the eyes of Griffin. Rodriguez explores his own educational history in his essay “The Achievement of Desire” and Ralph Ellison depicts his own journeys and personal growth in his essay, “An Extravagance of Laughter”. Both essays, which when seen through Susan Griffin’s perspective, can be reopened and examined from a different historical view, perhaps allowing them to be understood with a more lucid view of history and what it is really about.
In his autobiographical work, Black Boy, Richard Wright wrote about his battles with hunger, abuse, and racism in the south during the early 1900's. Wright was a gifted author with a passion for writing that refused to be squelched, even when he was a young boy. To convey his attitude toward the importance of language as a key to identity and social acceptance, Wright used rhetorical techniques such as rhetorical appeals and diction.
“I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of the hunger for life that gnaws in us all, to keep alive in our hearts a sense of the inexpressibly human.” (Richard Wright) In 1945 an intelligent black boy named Richard Wright made the brave decision to write and publish an autobiography illustrating the struggles, trials, and tribulations of being a Negro in the Jim Crow South. Ever since Wright wrote about his life in Black Boy many African American writers have been influenced by Wright to do the same. Wright found the motivation and inspiration to write Black Boy through the relationships he had with his family and friends, the influence of folk art and famous authors of the early 1900s, and mistreatment of blacks in the South and uncomfortable racial barriers.
One may ask, what is methamphetamine and some of the side effect associated with use. Methamphetamine is a stimulant drug chemically related to amphe...
A rhetorical technique used by Wright is this passage is that of metaphors. For example, when describing Mencken’s effectiveness he uses phrases such as “he was using words as a weapon.” This simile conveys to the reader just how powerful the new experience was for Wright. Richard wondered if he would ever be able to create something so significant. Although the idea seemed frightening at first, Wright was able to fight using his words in the end. In addition, to extend the metaphor of words being weapons, the language on the page is so full of disgust that Wright imagines Mencken had “slash[ed] [it] with his pen.” This image gives convincing evidence that Mencken was extremely irate with his society. His sword is the pen and his words are the blow. Those who are witness to this ‘duel’ are those who are effected by its cuts. Readers begin to realize just how important language is to identity and beliefs.
Macksey, Richard and Frank E. Moorer, eds. Richard Wright: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1984.
Two effects of meth addiction are an increase in property crimes and an increase in the number of children entering foster career. Shockingly, half of the inmates in Portland jails were meth users, and meth addicts commit 80% of the property crimes in Oregon. These statistics show how meth can not only negatively affect an individual and a family, but a whole community. The correlation between property crimes and meth can be explained by the fact that meth is an ultra-stimulant. According to the video, one puff can an individual stay high for even a whole day. As a result, the person’s dependency leads them to do things or commit crimes they would not have done otherwise
"How Meth Destroys the Body." PBS.org. The Public Broadcasting Station, 17 May 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2013, Septemeber). Methamphetamine: Abuse and Addiction. Retrieved February 6, 2014, from National Institute on Drug Abuse: http://www.drugabuse.gov/sites/default/files/methrrs_web.pdf
"Short-Term & Long-Term Impact & Deadly Effects of Meth Abuse & Addiction: Foundation for a Drug Free World." Short-Term & Long-Term Impact & Deadly Effects of Meth Abuse & Addiction: Foundation for a Drug Free World. N.p., 2006-2014. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
To begin, when Wright reads Mencken’s work for the first time, he does not know how to react to his “clear, clean, sweeping sentences.” Wright compares Mencken to a “raging demon, slashing with his pen” that, like Wright, despises authority, but actually contains the audacity to laugh in its face. In a sense, Mencken was “fighting with words.” Wright compares words to weapons; he is frightened by the idea of such a comparison because he knows well that a wound inflicted by a sharp tongue can be extremely more painful than any physical malady suffered by men. In his own life, Wrig...
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