Black Boy :: Essays Papers

Black Boy2Black Boy, Richard Wrights autobiography, covers his childhood and early adulthood. It opens with four-year-old Richards rebellion over against authority, an important theme in Black Boy. At the time, Richard was restless and resentful of his mothers injunction of silence. Richard incident completelyy burned down his grandparents house in his attempt to find something to contract his time. After his mother determined that he was unharmed, she beat him so disadvantageously he lost consciousness.When Richard and his brother were very young, Nathan Wright, their father, abandoned the family, plunging them into poverty. Richards constant hungriness made him extremely bitter toward his absent father. Over the next few years, Ella, Richards mother, would desperately attempt to feed, clothe, and shelter her children. Her long hours of work often meant divergence her children with little supervision. When Richard was six years old, he began begging drinks in a nearby saloon where the customers plied him with nickels if he would repeat various curse quarrel and offensive phrases. When beatings proved ineffective in breaking her son of his ripening obsession with alcohol, Ella engaged the babysitting services of an older black charwoman in the neighborhood.Ella moved in with her sister, Maggie, and Maggies husband, Silas Hoskins. Hoskins was the proprietor of a successful saloon, so there was always more than enough food to eat. Nevertheless, Richard was unable to neglect the fear that his hunger would return anew, so he hoarded food all over the house. Unfortunately, the newfound stability was not destined to last. The local whites were suspicious of Hoskinss profitable business, so they murdered him and threatened to kill the rest of his family. Maggie and Ella fled with the 2 boys to live in another town. Maggie and Ellas combined wages proved fair to middling to feed and clothe Richard and his brother, but Maggie became involved with Professor Matthews, a wanted man. Ella and the children fled to the North after Matthews killed a white woman Ella once again had to work alone to provide for herself and her children.Ellas health began to deteriorate. Lacking rent money, she and her sons were constrained to move several times. A paralytic stroke disabled her, so Richard was forced to write to his grandmother for help. Ellas siblings gave what help they could, but none of them could cause on the responsibility for both of her children. Richards grandmother took on the responsibility for caring for Ella.