Black Boy

1) "Autobiography"  Black boy is a part life story about a young black boy named Richard who as a child burnt down his own house in by messing with the curtains in Natchez, MS. After being found from hiding his mother Ella beats him unconscious His father Nathan, left him young with his mother Ella. Nathan leaves his family for another, and without the financial support Richard and his family are left in poverty. Mainly because of his hunger Richard grows bitter towards his father. While growing for a few more years Richard finds himself doing all kinds of mischevious things (due to the lack of parenting) because Ella works all the time to try and support her family (Richard and his brother Alan). They endure their struggles and things get easier after they move to aunt maggies house, that is until Hoskin is killed due to jealousy of white men to his success. Aunt Maggie Ellla and the boys relocate again and live fairly easier than before, until Maggie leaves Proffessor Mathews. Then the poverty returns to the family and it gets worse when Ella health conditions lead her to a stroke. After the stroke Ella, Richard, and alan are taken in by Richards grandmother. Richard moves in with Uncle tom but after hearing about the person that died in his bedroom he begs to go back. Granny being very religious sends Richard to religious school with Aunt Addie who beats richard on false accusation at first. Then on her second try to beat him, He defends himself with a knife. Since that day we find Richard being in the same situations getting beaten or fending off his relatives with weapons such as razors and knifes. Though Richard lives a rough life he seemingly excells in school and is interested in learning, reading, and writing. I think it is because his family is hostile to it and his rebellious nature draws him to it. As richard grows he accelarates through school and ends up the valedictorian in his 9th grade year. Time passes and Richard enters reality and after a few tussles within his work, he eventually moves to chicago with his brother, Maggie and Ella. The great depression hits and he is forced out of work, this is when he turns to communism and its belief in protecting the oppressed. Not long after this decision he decides to leave the party after all the strife and ridicule and himself being attacked at a parade. It does not lower his spirits though, Richard keeps his head high and keeps hoping to use his writing to connect to the world.

2) The theme in the novel is obviously personal strife through racism to success. The book is an autobiography called Black Boy. Emphasis on the black because the story is not about a boy growing up in america, its about a black boy growing up in america. throughout his whole life Richard was treated poorly by white people, he was disrespected. Even as a valedictorian, he was ridiculed for his speech in schoool just because he was black. He was constantly beaten throughout the book which is generally what happened to a lot of young black boys at the time, yet Richard strived through it all to success even in the worst state of living. Him and his mom can be seen as some of the strongest individuals ever. His mom dealing with all of her health issues, and still working hard to support her children. Richard not having much, being very mischevious, and having a hard black childhood but in the end just wants to connect to the world with his writing, that should be a legacy.

3) the tone is very literal and legit due to the fact its an autobiography. Wright tells his story with many things that to me i would not want to even include in my book if it was my autobiography. We can see the literacy in the novel throughout the whole story. For example the courage Richard had to include not just one time he was beaten but the multiple times he had to deal with getting his axx kicked, to the point he had to defend himself with a weapon. Then when he gets into a tussle with one of his black co workers due to the fact Olin a white co worker tries to get the two black men to basically kill each other. Then When Richard is awarded valedictorian but is recomended to make a speech based on the white peoples exceptions. The whole story is very legit, I see Richard as courageous for even publishing some parts of the autobiography.

4) "Autobiography" I dont think price meant it to be this way, but the timeframe and setting to his autobiography play a large role in the novel. In arkansas, tennesse, Mississipp and chicago during the slave era were some of the states consisting of many slaves, which brought out the racism factor. Also that Arkansas is very humid and hot making poverty sound even more intense than Richard makes it seem. The conflict of the novel is also very important. You have to understand the main conflict is Richard dealing with all the racism throughout his life, but then understand the little conflicts that makes that true. The struggles as a kid, throughout his hard life in school, and even through joining the communist party we see constant conflict with richard and other white people. The diction used is also key to Prices story. He tells it how it is throughout the whole story. It Makes his readers believe what actually happened in his life. Then I believe the Richard foreshadows the way he handles things with white people by the way he handles things within his family. For example when he stands up for himself from getting beaten, he stands up for himself in a "Black Pride" type of manner. Also, when he deals with adversities with his family, He deals with the adversities of the other white children in school similarly. It is most important in the autobiography to understand character. To understand that Richard starts out young, and grows up as a black boy. That his mother is a women who due to lack of money works hard for her family, that his father was just some jerk who left Richard young, That his grandma is the reason Richard was sent to school in the first place to try and tame that mischevious spirit. To understand why Richard is the way he is that is the most important literary element.