Black Boy Too Much To Handle

Life as a Negro in the deep south during the 1900s was very hard. Most Negros were separated from whites and forced to live a harsh life in hiding during the day. Richard, a main character in Black Boy was raised that way.

Unlike most he overcame oppression and became a great American author.Before the civil rights movement Richard and his family fled in and out of several homes running scared. Richard was involved in and around so many horrible things before he was a teenager. He had been a witness to murder of his uncle and seen prostitution and he at one point even became a member of a gang. He had learned words that his Mother and Granny wanted to kill him over; sometimes they beat him until it was very likely to happen. In fact he got a beating for almost everything he did that didn't please his family.

I understand how sometimes kids do some crazy things but to me Richard was treated unfairly, He already had a horrible life and his parents and grandparents made it worse.I think that Richard was treated unfairly because several times in the book it states the he was being beat or he was in serious trouble. He said one foul word and his granny took after him. Convinced that Richard is a mouthpiece for the Devil, Granny becomes enraged and begins beating him with a wet towel.(Black Boy Chapter 2) He lost his dad because he ran out on his family, his mother when she wasn't bed ridden from being sick just abused him. He was drug from state to state running from racism and pain that his parents and grandparent were put through.

They only thing he ever wanted that pushed him away from. He went through so much at such a very young age, he didn't deserve the life that he was forced to live. I would always believe in my child no matter what he wanted to do I would push him into being the best that he could be.Richard as a young boy fell in love with litature but, being raised in a black folk community they never gave him the chance to make something of what he loved. They were unable and unwilling to educate him. Richard was enrolled in school but, he was always behind in his studies because of how many times they moved.

All of this caused Richard to refuse to participate in school. Kids tend to take frustration out at school. I don't think I would have attended school either if no one believed in me and the dreams I had.Personally my parents didn't push me and could have cared less if I even graduated, which I didn't. It took me so many years to realize that I couldn't live for them, which is when I decided to attend college.

Kind of like Richard, he chose to follow his dreams with or without his parents' wishes and moved away to write his books and read literature.Richard explains in his book that the world is covered with individuals who are young and trying to work as adult would. The following quote shows that racism is existent in not only our minds but in every single place that we go. "Our too-young and too-new America, lusty because it is lonely, aggressive because it is afraid, insists upon seeing the world in terms of good and bad, the holy and the evil, the high and the low, the white and the black; our America is frightened of fact, of history, of processes, of necessity. It hugs the easy way of damning those whom it cannot understand, of excluding those who look different, and it salves its conscience with a self-draped cloak of righteousness"  (Richard Wright, Black Boy chapter15) Racism shows in almost everything we do.

Even today as my family and I attended a Redneck Christmas Parade and the West Monroe/Monroe Christmas Parade the individuals on the floats both black and white would wait until they seen someone of their same race to through there prizes out. I t was amazing to see how many people tend to favor their own race over someone who looked or acted different. Racism is a difficult problem not just because of its overt violence and discrimination, but because it often operates in much more subtle forms. Mr. crane clearly shows Richard some degree of kindness, but something nonetheless prevents him from treating Richard as an equal. (SparkNotes Editors, 2003)Racism in this story was between not only whites but also with blacks versus blacks as well.

Richard was involved in all types of racism. In fact, after he graduated public school he was terrorized by the whites that he worked with. Richard had worked with and for white folks his entire life. He was talked down by whites and blacks about how his reading wouldn't amount to anything.

I would hate to know that I was the one who crushed his dreams.Richard was a boy with great strength and pride whose voice was heard. He stood up for what he thought was right. He did not let his bad luck of being born in an abusive black family stop him from following his dreams. We could all learn from Richard.

Never give up and always believe in yourself, even if no one else believes in you.

Article name: Black Boy Too Much To Handle essay, research paper, dissertation