Teaching Richard Wright’s Black Boy

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Teaching Richard Wright’s Black BoyAn Online Professional Development SeminarGerald EarlyMerle King Professor of Modern Letters,Professor of English andProfessor of African & African-American Studies,Washington University in Saint LouisWe will begin promptly on the hour.The silence you hear is normal.If you do not hear anything when theimages change, e-mail Caryn Koplikckoplik@nationalhumanitiescenter.orgfor assistance.

Black BoyFROM THE FORUM I've had a lot of luck using imagery as a means to introduce students to thebook, especially doing a gallery walk-through of the covers that have graced itsince its publication. How closely does Black Boy parallel Wright’s own life? Did people challenge Wright’s depiction of the Jim Crow South when the bookappeared? How did Wright judge race relations in the non-Southern United States?americainclass.org2

Gerald EarlyProfessor of English andAfrican & African-American Studies,Washington University in Saint LouisTrustee, National Humanities CenterThe Culture of Bruising: Essays on Prizefighting, Literature,and Modern American Culture,winner of the 1994 National Book Critics Circle Award forcriticismOne Nation Under a Groove: Motown and AmericanCulture (1994)Daughters: On Family and Fatherhood (1994)Tuxedo Junction:Essays on American Culture(1989)americainclass.org3

Richard WrightCareer Moved to New York in 1937, became the Harlem editorfor the Daily Worker Received the Story magazine prize for “Fire and Cloud” Published collection of four short stories entitled UncleTom's Children (1938) Won a Guggenheim Fellowship, which allowed him tocomplete Native Son (1940) In January 1941 received the prestigious SpingarnMedal for noteworthy achievement Published semi-autobiographical Black Boy (1945)americainclass.org4

Black Boy or American Hunger Black Boy is a memoir of Richard Wright's childhood and young adulthood. The first fourteen chapters, about his Mississippi childhood were called "Part One:Southern Night", and the last six, about Chicago, were "Part Two: The Horror andthe Glory". In January 1944, Harper and Brothers accepted all twenty chapters, and by Maythey were all in page proofs for a scheduled fall publication of the book. In June, the Book of the Month Club expressed an interest in only the Mississippichildhood section, the first fourteen chapters. In response, Wright agreed to eliminate the Chicago section, and in August herenamed the shortened book Black Boy.americainclass.org5

Black BoyStructure of the Discussion Black Boy as part of the African American autobiographical tradition The metaphor of hunger in the text Wright’s nonconformist attitude Women: depiction of female characters Reading: from Pulp Fiction to H.L. Mencken The liberal welfare state; Wright and communism Ralph Ellison’s criticism of Black Boyamericainclass.org6

HungerHunger stole upon me so slowly that at first I was not aware of what hungerreally meant. Hunger had always been more or less at my elbow when I played,but now I began to wake up at night to find hunger standing at my bedside,staring at me gauntly. The hunger I had known before this had been no grim,hostile stranger; it had been a normal hunger that had made me beg constantlyfor bread, and when I ate a crust or two I was satisfied. But this new hungerbaffled me, scared me, made me angry and insistent. Whenever I begged forfood now my mother would pour me a cup of tea which would still the clamorin my stomach for a moment or two; but a little later I would feel hungernudging my ribs, twisting my empty guts until they ached. I would grow dizzyand my vision would dim. I became less active in my play, and for the first timein my life I had to pause and think of what was happening to me.Chapter IDiscussion Question How does Wright’s description of hunger change as the autobiography progresses?americainclass.org7

The Isolated Life of BlacksAfter I had outlived the shocks of childhood, after the habit of reflection hadbeen born in me, I used to mull over the strange absence of real kindness inNegroes, how unstable was our tenderness, how lacking in genuine passionwe were, how void of great hope, how timid our joy, how bare ourtraditions, how hollow our memories, how lacking we were in thoseintangible sentiments that bind man to man, and how shallow was even ourdespair. After I had learned other ways of life I used to brood upon theunconscious irony of those who felt that Negroes led so passional anexistence! I saw that what had been taken for our emotional strength wasour negative confusions, our flights, our fears, our frenzy under pressure.Chapter IIDiscussion Question Were critics right to accuse Wright of misunderstanding black life inthis famous passage?americainclass.org8

Wright’s MotherMy mother’s suffering grew into a symbol in my mind, gathering to itself allthe poverty, the ignorance, the helplessness; the painful, baffling, hungerridden days and hours; the restless moving, the futile seeking, theuncertainty, the fear, the dread; the meaningless pain and the endlesssuffering. Her life set the emotional tone of my life, colored the men andwomen I was to meet in the future, conditioned my relation to events thathad not yet happened, determined my attitude to situations andcircumstances I had yet to face. A somberness of spirit that I was never tolose settled over me during the slow years of my mother’s unrelievedsuffering, a somberness that was to make me stand apart and look uponexcessive joy with suspicion, that was to make me self-conscious, that wasto make me keep forever on the move, as though to escape a nameless fateseeking to overtake me.Chapter IIIDiscussion Question How would you characterize Wright’s relationship with his mother?americainclass.org9

Psychological ContradictionsAt the age of twelve I had an attitude toward life that was to endure,that was to make me seek those areas of living that would keep italive, that was to make me skeptical of everything while seekingeverything, tolerant of all and yet critical. The spirit I had caughtgave me insight into the sufferings of others, made me gravitatetoward those whose feelings were like my own, made me sit forhours while others told me of their lives, made me strangely tenderand cruel, violent and peaceful.Chapter IIIDiscussion Question How was Wright able to reconcile these contradictions and be anintegrated personality?americainclass.org10

Sexual AwarenessMy body grew, even on mush and lard gravy, a miracle which the churchcertainly should have claimed credit for. I survived my twelfth year on adiet that would have stunted an average-sized dog, and my glands began todiffuse through my blood, like sap rising upward in trees in spring, thosestrange chemicals that made me look curiously at girls and women. Theelder’s wife sang in the choir and I fell in love with her as only a twelveyear-old can worship a distant and unattainable women. During theservices I would stare at her, wondering what it was like to be married toher, pondering over how passionate she was. I felt no qualms about myfirst lust for the flesh being born on holy ground; the contrast betweenbudding carnal desires and the aching loneliness of the hymns neverevoked any sense of guilt in me.Chapter IVDiscussion Question Why should Wright choose to underscore rebellious nature of his boyish lustagainst the backdrop of the church?americainclass.org11

Religious ConversionIt was no longer a question of my believing in God; it was no longer a matter ofwhether I would steal or lie or murder; it was a simple, urgent matter of publicpride, a matter of how much I had in common with other people. If I refused, itmeant that I did not love my mother, and no man in that tight little blackcommunity had ever been crazy enough to let himself be placed in such aposition. My mother pulled my arm and I walked with her to the preacher andshook his hand, a gesture that made me a candidate for baptism. There were moresongs and prayers; it lasted until well after midnight. I walked home limp as a rag;I had not felt anything except sullen anger and a crushing sense of shame. Yet Iwas somehow glad that I had got it over with; no barriers now stood between meand the community.Chapter VIDiscussion Question If Wright did love his mother, and if he did want some sort of communal life, whyconsider rebelling against the charade of conversion, such a small price to pay to makehis mother happy?americainclass.org12

AuthorityWas I really as bad as my uncles and aunts and Granny repeatedly said? Whywas it considered wrong to ask questions? Was I right when I resistedpunishment? It was inconceivable to me that one should surrender to whatseemed wrong, and most of the people I had met seemed wrong. Ought oneto surrender to authority even if one believed that that authority was wrong?If the answer was yes, then I knew that I would always be wrong, because Icould never do it. Then how could one live in the world in which one’s mindand perceptions meant nothing and authority and tradition meant everything?There were no answers.Chapter VIIDiscussion Question What does “surrender to authority” actually mean in Wright’s view? Can one surrender to authority without really surrendering? Can one surrender toauthority and actually undermine authorityamericainclass.org13

The Peasant MentalityLater, after I had grown to understand the peasant mentality of Bessand her mother, I learned the full degree to which my life at homehad cut me off, not only from white people but from Negroes aswell. To Bess and her mother, money was important, but they did notstrive for it too hard. They had no tensions, unappeasable longings,no desire to do something to redeem themselves. The main value intheir lives was simple, clean, good living and when they thought theyhad found those same qualities in one of their race, they instinctivelyembraced him, liked him, and asked no questions. But such simpleunaffected trust flabbergasted me. It was impossible.Chapter XIDiscussion Question According to Wright’s political and moral values, what is thesignificance of Bess’s lack of self-awareness?americainclass.org14

CensorshipAmong the topics that southern white men did not like to discusswith Negroes were the following: American white women; the KuKlux Klan; France, and how negro soldiers fared while there;Frenchwomen; Jack Johnson; the entire northern part of the UnitedStates; the Civil War; Abraham Lincoln; U. S. Grant; GeneralSherman; Catholics; the Pope; Jews; the Republican party; slavery;social equality; Communism; Socialism; the 13th, 14th, and 15thAmendments to the Constitution; or any topic calling for positiveknowledge or manly self-assertion on the part of the Negro.Chapter XIIDiscussion Question What exactly does this catalog of subjects represent? And what would you imagine black and white southerners would haveto say about them if they did try to talk about these subjects?americainclass.org15

American CultureAs I, in memory, think back now upon thosegirls and their lives I feel that for white Americato understand the significance of the problem ofthe Negro will take a bigger and tougherAmerica than any we have yet known. I feel thatAmerica’s past is too shallow, her nationalcharacter too superficially optimistic, her verymorality too suffused with color hate for her toaccomplish so vast and complex a task.Culturally the Negro represents a paradox:Though he is an organic part of the nation, he isexcluded by the entire tide and direction ofAmerican culture.Chapter XVDiscussion Question How would you compare these quotations?The one on the right is from slide 14. Is there anything worthwhile about Americanculture?americainclass.orgAfter I had outlived the shocks ofchildhood, after the habit of reflection hadbeen born in me, I used to mull over thestrange absence of real kindness inNegroes, how unstable was our tenderness,how lacking in genuine passion we were,how void of great hope, how timid our joy,how bare our traditions, how hollow ourmemories, how lacking we were in thoseintangible sentiments that bind man toman, and how shallow was even ourdespair. After I had learned other ways oflife I used to brood upon the unconsciousirony of those who felt that Negroes led sopassional an existence! I saw that what hadbeen taken for our emotional strength wasour negative confusions, our flights, ourfears, our frenzy under pressure.Chapter II16

Ellison’s “Richard Wright’s Blues”The blues is an impulse to keep the painful details and episodes of abrutal experience alive in one’s aching consciousness, to finger itsjagged grain, and to transcend it, not by the consolation ofphilosophy but by squeezing from it a near-tragic, near-comiclyricism. As a form, the blues is an autobiographical chronicle ofpersonal catastrophe expressed lyrically.americainclass.org17

Final SlideThank youamericainclass.org18

americainclass.org 5 Black Boy or American Hunger Black Boy is a memoir of Richard Wright's childhood and young adulthood. The first fourteen chapters, about his Mississippi childhood were called "Part One: Southern Night", and th

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