Black Boy – Richard Wright
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Black Boy is an autobiography on the life of Richard Wright,an author who grew up during the Jim Crow period it shows the oppression of blacks in the south and the many obstacles and influence that he comes across. It can be assumed that religion is a big influence early in his life. It is mostly shown during his stay at his grandmother, and her religious views help lead him to leaving the Jim Crow south. The theme shows in many passages that Richard Wright is a multifaceted character and a nonconformist. The influence leads to him being suppressed him from becoming a writer. Throughout the first part of Black Boy the theme of religion is presented.
In part one of the book, his grandmother is without a doubt the most religious person in his family. The many times “granny” rejected his stories or the texts that he read were due to the fact that her religious views denied those beliefs. Although these influences may have a negative impact on certain people, for Richard this was a motivation. These motivations can be interpreted in many ways, one way is that Richard wanted to prove her wrong, much like when he took his fathers words literally. Her many attempts at helping him find religion never succeeded. Example of her attempts are in passages like where she denies Richards Richard permission to get a job on Saturday, And then says that if he wants a job on a Saturday that he will have to leave her house. This and many other examples leads to him leaving the Jim Crow south.
During his jobs that he held in the Jim Crow South, there were some examples of influences by religion. One of these being when he asked the Irish man who works at Richards Job if he can use the mans library card to check out books. The reason that Richard ass this man was because of the finance religious views which he believed where the least racially bias. Without him reading the books from the library there is a