Black Boy Term Paper

Black Boy by Richard Wright

Richard's goals and dreams are born from glimmers of life seen fleetingly through a bramble of obstacles, disappointments and discouragements. The women and men in his life do not represent an active stifling so much as an archetypal mediocrity, which forms a backdrop in stark contrast to the striving, passionate, and active life Richard wants to lead.

Although he has biological progenitors, Richard has no real parents. He learns nearly everything in his life from non-relatives or by trial and error, with the one exception of his mother teaching him to read after learning that he knows his numbers.After his kin discover what he has learned from the saloon, the schoolyard, and the street, they beat him as if the severity of the switch can make up for the intensity of their neglect.

In the absence of caring adults to raise him, he raises himself with input provided only by his environment. By the time Miss Simon tries to encourage him….....