Black Boy, written by Richard Wright in 1943, is a memoir of his childhood, split into two sections. The first section reflects on his childhood in Mississippi, and the second centers around his young adulthood in Chicago. The novel is designed to explore the plight of young blacks in America in an era when they were still navigating the violence of racism and findings their racial identity. As such, it deeply explores the concepts of race, class, and citizenship, and how those ideas are closely tied, and in some cases, greatly conflicted.
Black Boy is primarily a book about race. The very title, uses both “black” identifying race, and “boy” which is often used to denote subservience or to condescend to the black man, because of his assumed natural inferiority. However, the book goes on to describe what it is to be “Black” in far greater detail.
Early in the novel, Wright asks his mother if he is a colored (55). His mother explains to him that he will be labeled as a black man, but that he is really French, and Irish, and Indian, and Negro, however, the world will only consider him black. At this point you can see Wright grappling with his understanding of race making a difference in one’s life. He does not fully understand the privilege that is given to those that are decidedly white, or why a little bit of black blood overrules the other blood that runs through your veins. What he does discover, however, is that his mother is angry about it and would prefer not to talk about the race, and skin color, of the members of the family.
Part of his confusion about race, and what it is to be “black” stems from the fact that much of his family are very pale, and his grandmother looks more white than black. As such, he questions how they can be negros in spite of the fact that many of them look white. Ultimately, he chooses to abandon the confines of his race and to operate as an individual, rather than a larger member of the race. He states: “My comrades had known me, my family, my friends; they, God knows, had known my aching poverty. But they had never been able to conquer their fear of the individual way in which I acted and lived, an individuality which life had seared into my blood and bones” (414). The individuality is his personal coping mechanism, and his work to escape his race to become who and what he knows himself to be.
The book then repeats this theme, highlighting the way that whites treat blacks, and further, highlighting how blacks cope with their mistreatment. Granny immerses herself n religion, men fight back, and more. Ultimately, Wright discovers that those labeled as “black” are members of a separate, demeaned, social class, purely as a result of their skin color, and not because of any inherent abilities, or traits. It is purely because of the way that society views their race, and not because of anything they have said or done that they are treated as second class citizens.
The fact that all blacks are treated as second class citizens is highlighted by Wright’s desire for a greater education. Neither the black, nor the white community is prepared to provide a bright black boy with the education he needs to fit his talents. Wright states “Then how could one live in a world in which one’s mind and perceptions meant nothing and authority and tradition meant everything? (188). Class is defined, according to Wright, not according to the individuals own abilities, perceptions and actions, but rather according to the identity that is forced on him by societal norms. He is labeled as simple, and forced to have a menial education, not because he does not have a natural proclivity for literature, but rather because he is black, and is, as a result, not a member of the class that receives a classical education.
It becomes clear that class is, for the white man, a function of his resources, abilities, and attitudes. A white man can improve upon his class, or become a member of a higher class through hard work, education and the desire to better one’s self. In contrast, however, for the black man class is a function of his race. He will remain a member of the lowest class, because he is not viewed fit for a higher class as a result of his race, and not because of a limitation in his abilities. As such, blacks are taught by society that they must steal to get ahead, rather than working to get ahead. Wright notes that, his failure to steal, ironically, makes him a “dumb nigger”: “
More than once I had been called a "dumb nigger" by black boys who discovered that I had not availed myself of a chance to snatch some petty piece of white property that had been carelessly left within my reach. “How in hell you gonna git ahead?’ I had been asked when I had said that one ought not steal. (228).
This ultimately limits the potential of blacks, and forces them into a cycle in which they repeat the offences of which they have been accused, and further the stereotypes that keep their rights, and opportunities limited. Ultimately, this becomes a means of using their class, or lack of class, to keep them second class citizens.
They do not have the same rights of citizenship as rights. While citizenship guarantees white’s the right to a free public education, black man is deprived education. While citizenship guarantees the rights to work, and to work to better one’s life, as described above, the black man was denied the right to improve his class. Of this, Wright says: “white man had sought to keep us from obtaining a job, or enjoying the rights of citizenship, we would have bowed silently to his power.” (262). It is clear, in this statement , that the rights of citizenship do not apply equally between the races, and so once again, the black population are viewed as second class citizens.
Richard Wright’s autobiographical novel Black Boy, follows his life from the age of four, in his grandmother’s house in Mississippi to his young adulthood in urban Chicago. It explores the concepts of race, class, and citizenship, and how the issues are interrelated. More specifically, Wright defines what it is to be black, racially speaking, as opposed to what begin dark skinned and then gives a compelling view of what it is lack to be treated as black by society. He then considers the role of the black community as second class citizens, denied the rights to citizenship, or the access to education that would allow them to change their lives. They are trapped in the lower, working class by a lack of education and a need for greater access to resources that would improve their life. Further they are bound to racial perception and stereotypes that perpetuate the cycles that keep the blacks in the lower classes, with no hope of improving their condition. In contrast, however, Wright, by exploring his own literacy, and describing the plight of young blacks in America, breaks away from the role assigned to him by both his race, and his poverty, and embarks on a journey of individuality and authorship that separates him from his own people, in the same way that his race separates him from the white man. Ultimately, his work is a meaningful exploration of the black experience in an era when they were still creating a racial identity, and fighting for the rights as American citizens.
Works Cited:
Wright, Richard. Black Boy. New York: Harper Collins. 1993. Print.
