Andrew Norton Wilder Book report on Black Boy April 10, 2011 This Book is called Black Boy. It is an autobiography by Richard Wright that is 384 pages long. It was published in 1945 by Harper & Brothers. This book has restored text by the Library of America and republished in 1991. I chose this book because its title stood out to me. I wanted to see life from the perspective of a negro to broaden my horizons. The main character is Richard Wright. He also wrote the book. His purpose was to tell about his life growing up in the segregated south and his life as he migrated north. Growing up in the south he burnt down his house at 4, became a drunkard at 6, and had to take care of his mother at a young age due to repeated strokes and illnesses. These experiences cause him to deny religion and God and be cast away by his family as a heathen when he was 17. When he left he ended up in Memphis for a while before he got enough money to move to Chicago. In Chicago he joined the communist party and became one of the most influential black men of his time as a writer. Other characters in the book were Richard’s mother and Grandmother. Richard’s mother was his primary caregiver because his father left him at a young age. This soon changed as she grew ill and he had to work and move in with his grandmother to support her. His Grandmother was a religious fanatic. She pushed him into religion and he rejected it. This caused her much grief and she treated him badly for the rest of his childhood. She pushed him to move out on his own at the age of 17. This book is an autobiography. The setting starts in Mississippi and ends in Chicago. The time period is the early 20th century. The historical context is around the Jim Crow laws, which make races segregated. Richard Wright’s goal is to tell his childhood story of how negros are treated badly and how he went past that to become a successful writer. He had to overcome racial prejudice and denying God. The turning point is when Richard Moves to Chicago and begins to find himself as a writer. In the end he becomes a communist writer. In conclusion to this book I think it was a good story of a man who overcame great adversity. I liked it because it shows how events in early life affect a person’s views and perceptions on life. It opened my eyes to the struggles that brought upon the civil rights movement. One of its good points was that if you never give up on your dreams you can achieve anything. One of the points I disagree with is his view of God. He could not bring himself to believe in something he couldn’t see and arrogantly believed all those who did were fooling themselves. I learned that blacks were treated like scum in the early 1900s. They were expected to have a stupid smile on their face and never ask questions. I would recommend this to others to show a perspective of a black man in segregated times in America.
Wilder
Book report on Black Boy
April 10, 2011
This Book is called Black Boy. It is an autobiography by Richard Wright that is 384 pages long. It was published in 1945 by Harper & Brothers. This book has restored text by the Library of America and republished in 1991. I chose this book because its title stood out to me. I wanted to see life from the perspective of a negro to broaden my horizons.
The main character is Richard Wright. He also wrote the book. His purpose was to tell about his life growing up in the segregated south and his life as he migrated north. Growing up in the south he burnt down his house at 4, became a drunkard at 6, and had to take care of his mother at a young age due to repeated strokes and illnesses. These experiences cause him to deny religion and God and be cast away by his family as a heathen when he was 17. When he left he ended up in Memphis for a while before he got enough money to move to Chicago. In Chicago he joined the communist party and became one of the most influential black men of his time as a writer.
Other characters in the book were Richard’s mother and Grandmother. Richard’s mother was his primary caregiver because his father left him at a young age. This soon changed as she grew ill and he had to work and move in with his grandmother to support her. His Grandmother was a religious fanatic. She pushed him into religion and he rejected it. This caused her much grief and she treated him badly for the rest of his childhood. She pushed him to move out on his own at the age of 17.
This book is an autobiography. The setting starts in Mississippi and ends in Chicago. The time period is the early 20th century. The historical context is around the Jim Crow laws, which make races segregated. Richard Wright’s goal is to tell his childhood story of how negros are treated badly and how he went past that to become a successful writer. He had to overcome racial prejudice and denying God. The turning point is when Richard Moves to Chicago and begins to find himself as a writer. In the end he becomes a communist writer.
In conclusion to this book I think it was a good story of a man who overcame great adversity. I liked it because it shows how events in early life affect a person’s views and perceptions on life. It opened my eyes to the struggles that brought upon the civil rights movement. One of its good points was that if you never give up on your dreams you can achieve anything. One of the points I disagree with is his view of God. He could not bring himself to believe in something he couldn’t see and arrogantly believed all those who did were fooling themselves. I learned that blacks were treated like scum in the early 1900s. They were expected to have a stupid smile on their face and never ask questions. I would recommend this to others to show a perspective of a black man in segregated times in America.