NON-AFRICAN PROSE RICHARD WRIGHT: Black Boy Comment on the theme of racism in the novel.

Answer Details

Racism is the dominant theme of Richard Wright's Black Boy. The autobiography records how a Black child growing up in the American South is shaped, threatened and almost broken by a society built on white supremacy and racial oppression.

The daily reality of segregation

• Richard grows up in a South where Blacks and whites are rigidly separated. He learns early that there are places he cannot go, jobs he cannot hold and words he cannot say to white people.
• He must master a humiliating code of behaviour, showing deference and hiding his intelligence, simply to stay safe among whites.

Violence and fear

• Racial violence hangs over Black life. Richard hears of the killing of a relative (his uncle Hoskins) by whites who covet his business, teaching him that a Black man's life and property are never secure.
• Lynching and the constant threat of white aggression fill the atmosphere with fear, forcing Blacks to live cautiously and submissively.

Economic oppression

• Racism keeps Black families in poverty. Richard endures hunger and menial, poorly paid jobs, and white employers exploit and cheat Black workers with impunity.
• His attempts to better himself are repeatedly blocked by whites who resent an ambitious Black youth.

The psychological damage

• Racism warps relationships and the spirit. It breeds fear, self-suppression and even hostility among Blacks themselves, who urge Richard to accept his "place."
• Richard's hunger for books and knowledge is dangerous in a world that wants Blacks ignorant; he must borrow a white man's library card by deceit to read at all.

Richard's response

• Rather than accept degradation, Richard rebels inwardly and clings to his individuality and love of learning.
• His decision to flee to the North is his final protest against a system that denies his humanity.

Conclusion. Through his own experiences, Wright exposes racism as a pervasive evil that starves, terrorises and dehumanises Black people. Black Boy is both a personal story and a searing indictment of racial injustice in America.