Summary :
Richard gets a job in a clothing store where the boss and his son are very racist. One day Richard witnessed his boss and his boss's son pick up a black woman write off the street and beat her because she didn't pay her bill. When she left the store, bleeding and staggering, a police officer accused her of being drunk and arrested he. Another day Richard was delivering good into a whit community in the night, officers stopped him and searched him, he was clear to go, but they told him to tell his boss not to send him out to those communities that late. Richard gets a ride back up to town with a car full of white boys, the boys were drinking, they asked Richard if he wanted a drink, and he simply said no. One of the boys suddenly bashed in his face with the bottle because he didn't say no sir. the boys then left Richard on the road to walk. The whites in the town didn't like Richards attitude, that cost him a lot of jobs.
Quote :
"Then, for God's sake learn how to live in the South ! " ( Wright 183).
Response :
Griggs, Richard's old classmate was telling Richard that he needs to learn how to act towards whites. He tells Richard that he also hates white people but he can't show it because he has to eat. He means that white people basically ran the world at this time and in order to survive you would have to work for them. He then taught Richard the right way to act in front of whites. he also got a job for Richard with a white man from the north.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Black Boy (12O - 16O ]
Summary:
Richard gets a job working with a white family. This woman doesn't think that Richard should continue to go to school, because she feels he won't become successful anyways. Because she said this, he quit working for her family and her. Richard then gets another job with another white family who is also rude towards him, but Richard keeps the job because he can steal food from them. Richard's mother begins to get healthy again so they start to go to church. Richard and several other boys get baptized and they don't really believe in god and they don't really feel different after their baptism. Richard's mother has another stroke. Richard and his uncle whom Richard lives with get into a fight, and Richard ends up cutting his uncle up with a razor. Richard writes a story and publishes it in the news paper and everyone is confused to why he is doing this. Even his mother didn't want him to do, she thought if people saw his story they wouldn't want to hire him. The publisher is the only one who motivates Richard to continue to write and publish his stories.
Quote:
"If you sell 'em, you're just helping white people kill you (Wright 13O )."
Reaction:
Richard didn't know that the magazines he was selling were written by the Ku Klux Klan. when Richard found this out he stopped selling the magazines. This quote also shows a little bit of American history. This just shows how America was and to look at America today just shows the drastic change.
Richard gets a job working with a white family. This woman doesn't think that Richard should continue to go to school, because she feels he won't become successful anyways. Because she said this, he quit working for her family and her. Richard then gets another job with another white family who is also rude towards him, but Richard keeps the job because he can steal food from them. Richard's mother begins to get healthy again so they start to go to church. Richard and several other boys get baptized and they don't really believe in god and they don't really feel different after their baptism. Richard's mother has another stroke. Richard and his uncle whom Richard lives with get into a fight, and Richard ends up cutting his uncle up with a razor. Richard writes a story and publishes it in the news paper and everyone is confused to why he is doing this. Even his mother didn't want him to do, she thought if people saw his story they wouldn't want to hire him. The publisher is the only one who motivates Richard to continue to write and publish his stories.
Quote:
"If you sell 'em, you're just helping white people kill you (Wright 13O )."
Reaction:
Richard didn't know that the magazines he was selling were written by the Ku Klux Klan. when Richard found this out he stopped selling the magazines. This quote also shows a little bit of American history. This just shows how America was and to look at America today just shows the drastic change.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Black Boy ( 8O - 12O ]
Summary :
Richard makes some new friends in his new town. Richard and his friends all have the same feelings towards white people. Richard and his friends didn't quite understand why they had hostility towards the white people. Richard and his friends would fight the white boys. During one fight Richard got cut by glass, that he had to get stitches for. Richard's mother takes him to get the stitches but when she gets home with him, she beats him until he promises that he will never fight again. He tells his mother that he will never fight again but he lied to her. Richard's mother Ella becomes really sick, so she is no long able to work. So they attempt to find affordable apartments. Ella then has a stroke. Richard then writes Granny for help. Granny comes after a while and writes her children and lets then know whats going on and asks them to send some money, and they do. Later Granny takes Richard, his mother, and his brother to her home. When they arrive to Granny's home Richard begins to have nightmares and starts to sleep-walk, Granny helps him get rid the nightmares and the sleep-walking. Richards aunts and uncles decide that they are going to split up both Richard and his younger brother. They give Richard a chose to where he could live and he chose to live with his uncle, Clark.
Richard makes some new friends in his new town. Richard and his friends all have the same feelings towards white people. Richard and his friends didn't quite understand why they had hostility towards the white people. Richard and his friends would fight the white boys. During one fight Richard got cut by glass, that he had to get stitches for. Richard's mother takes him to get the stitches but when she gets home with him, she beats him until he promises that he will never fight again. He tells his mother that he will never fight again but he lied to her. Richard's mother Ella becomes really sick, so she is no long able to work. So they attempt to find affordable apartments. Ella then has a stroke. Richard then writes Granny for help. Granny comes after a while and writes her children and lets then know whats going on and asks them to send some money, and they do. Later Granny takes Richard, his mother, and his brother to her home. When they arrive to Granny's home Richard begins to have nightmares and starts to sleep-walk, Granny helps him get rid the nightmares and the sleep-walking. Richards aunts and uncles decide that they are going to split up both Richard and his younger brother. They give Richard a chose to where he could live and he chose to live with his uncle, Clark.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Black Boy ( pages 4O - 8O ]
Summary :
Ella, Richards mother, picks Richard and his brother Nathan from the orphanage. Richard was happy to be leaving the orphanage with his mother. On their way to Arkansas to Ella's sisters house, the stop at Granny's in Mississippi. Granny is renting a room out to a woman named Ella. Ella began to tell Richard about the book she is reading, Granny saw this and stopped it, she says its "the Devil's work." Granny slaps Richard in the face when he insists that Ella should continue to read to him. Richard sneaks and reads Ella's books. Richard's mother, Ella , gets sick so Granny bathes the boys. one evening while granny was bathing the boys Richard tells Granny, "when you get through, kiss back there." he is telling Granny to kiss his butt. Granny beats Richard, then when his mother finds out about it she goes after him also, but Richard runs under a bed where no one could reach him. Richard comes out when hunger is killing him that's when his mother beats him. Granny thinks Richard is getting this fresh talk from Ella's books so she confronts her then Ella moves out. On there way to their aunts house Richard noticed how the whites and the blacks have separate seats on the train. He begins to question his mother about color and why Granny skin was clear. when Richard goes to his aunts his uncle gets killed so they all flee back to Granny's.
Quote :
" I mean, do the white folks think she's white? "
Reaction:
This quote is important to the novel because it shows/proves that race is a conflict in this novel. It shows that Richard is realizing his whats going on in the real world. Granny is clear skinned which means her annsestors are white and black. Granny is a desendant of a master and a slave, but she was a slave. Richard asked his mother if white folks think that Granny is white and his mother doesn't really answer the question. This quote caught my attention because it shows that Richards family has a interesting history.
Ella, Richards mother, picks Richard and his brother Nathan from the orphanage. Richard was happy to be leaving the orphanage with his mother. On their way to Arkansas to Ella's sisters house, the stop at Granny's in Mississippi. Granny is renting a room out to a woman named Ella. Ella began to tell Richard about the book she is reading, Granny saw this and stopped it, she says its "the Devil's work." Granny slaps Richard in the face when he insists that Ella should continue to read to him. Richard sneaks and reads Ella's books. Richard's mother, Ella , gets sick so Granny bathes the boys. one evening while granny was bathing the boys Richard tells Granny, "when you get through, kiss back there." he is telling Granny to kiss his butt. Granny beats Richard, then when his mother finds out about it she goes after him also, but Richard runs under a bed where no one could reach him. Richard comes out when hunger is killing him that's when his mother beats him. Granny thinks Richard is getting this fresh talk from Ella's books so she confronts her then Ella moves out. On there way to their aunts house Richard noticed how the whites and the blacks have separate seats on the train. He begins to question his mother about color and why Granny skin was clear. when Richard goes to his aunts his uncle gets killed so they all flee back to Granny's.
Quote :
" I mean, do the white folks think she's white? "
Reaction:
This quote is important to the novel because it shows/proves that race is a conflict in this novel. It shows that Richard is realizing his whats going on in the real world. Granny is clear skinned which means her annsestors are white and black. Granny is a desendant of a master and a slave, but she was a slave. Richard asked his mother if white folks think that Granny is white and his mother doesn't really answer the question. This quote caught my attention because it shows that Richards family has a interesting history.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Black Boy ( pages 1 - 4O ]
Summary :
In this novel, Black Boy, by Richard Wright, explains the childhood of Richard growing up with his mother, his little brother, Nathan, and his father to a certain extent. One evening as Richard's grandmother is critically sick in bed and Richard's mother orders him to keep quiet. Richard begins to play with the fire in the fire place until he lights the house on fire. Another morning Richard and his brother were playing with a noisy kitten, while their father trying to sleep for work. Their Father told the to get rid of the kitten, he also said, " Kill that damn thing!" Richard took him literal and killed the cat so that his father would not be able to punish him for obeying his orders. Days go by and Richard complains to his mother that he is hungry, his mother explains to him that he no longer has a father to support the family and provide them with their everyday needs. Richard's mother sends him for groceries, but a gang of boys attack him for the groceries, his mother sends him again and they attack him again. his mother sends him one last time and tells him if he comes home without groceries again then she would also beat him when he got back. so Richard's mother sent him with the money for the groceries and a heavy stick. this time Richard arrives home with groceries for his mother and respect from the gang of boys. When Richard begins first grade a group of older boys taught him how to curse, his mother found out and was very upset. Richard hates his father for the fact that he left the family on their own to make ends meet. Richard's mother tries to but child support on his father but his father convinced the judge that he already suports the family with all that he could. this gives Richard more reasons to feel hatred towards his father.
Quote :
" Kill that damn thing!" my father exploded. "Do anything , but get it away from here!"( Wright 11).
Reaction :
This quote is line is important to the novel because it shows what type of person the father is. He spoke without thinking of how the children were going to interpret him. Richard knew what his father was tryinq to say. Nathan, his father, was trying to tell the boys to keep the kitten quite so he could go to sleep for work, he did not lierally mean kill the kitten. Richard already dislikes his father so he took this as an opportunity to twist up his fathers words. So he kills the kitten and says that his father told him to do it. Nathan keeps telling him that he didnt tell him to kill the kitten literal so Nathan does not punish Richard. Richards mother forces him to burry the kitten, Richard is terrified because he thinks some evil spirit will come after him for what he did to the kitten.
In this novel, Black Boy, by Richard Wright, explains the childhood of Richard growing up with his mother, his little brother, Nathan, and his father to a certain extent. One evening as Richard's grandmother is critically sick in bed and Richard's mother orders him to keep quiet. Richard begins to play with the fire in the fire place until he lights the house on fire. Another morning Richard and his brother were playing with a noisy kitten, while their father trying to sleep for work. Their Father told the to get rid of the kitten, he also said, " Kill that damn thing!" Richard took him literal and killed the cat so that his father would not be able to punish him for obeying his orders. Days go by and Richard complains to his mother that he is hungry, his mother explains to him that he no longer has a father to support the family and provide them with their everyday needs. Richard's mother sends him for groceries, but a gang of boys attack him for the groceries, his mother sends him again and they attack him again. his mother sends him one last time and tells him if he comes home without groceries again then she would also beat him when he got back. so Richard's mother sent him with the money for the groceries and a heavy stick. this time Richard arrives home with groceries for his mother and respect from the gang of boys. When Richard begins first grade a group of older boys taught him how to curse, his mother found out and was very upset. Richard hates his father for the fact that he left the family on their own to make ends meet. Richard's mother tries to but child support on his father but his father convinced the judge that he already suports the family with all that he could. this gives Richard more reasons to feel hatred towards his father.
Quote :
" Kill that damn thing!" my father exploded. "Do anything , but get it away from here!"( Wright 11).
Reaction :
This quote is line is important to the novel because it shows what type of person the father is. He spoke without thinking of how the children were going to interpret him. Richard knew what his father was tryinq to say. Nathan, his father, was trying to tell the boys to keep the kitten quite so he could go to sleep for work, he did not lierally mean kill the kitten. Richard already dislikes his father so he took this as an opportunity to twist up his fathers words. So he kills the kitten and says that his father told him to do it. Nathan keeps telling him that he didnt tell him to kill the kitten literal so Nathan does not punish Richard. Richards mother forces him to burry the kitten, Richard is terrified because he thinks some evil spirit will come after him for what he did to the kitten.
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