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Wiki posting #2 - **175 words minimum, but you can write as much as you wish.** (Please incorporate one parallelism into your post!) PLEASE UNDERLINE OR BOLD YOUR SENTENCE WITH THE PARALLELISM INCLUDED. Option 1: How does Wright describe racism in the South? Why is he unable to adapt? Option 2: Explore the connections between writing and racial violence in //Black Boy//. How does Wright use writing as a solution to the inequalities he experienced in the South?

Richard Wright can not express himself in the south, because of the racism. Blacks live in fear of what the whites think and feel pressure to act a certain way. The colored people are not treated as equals to the whites and are forced to act in a manner that whites except and want to be around. Richard was not willing to do this he was a strong individual and did not want to have to act a certain way just because the white people say he needs to, he knows there is much more to life and wants to experience it. Richard did not understand while other colored people let the white control them and treat them badly and did not want to be like this. **Richard knew there would be punishments for his actions, but wasn’t going to let the punishments stop him from being free.** Wright wanted to get out of the racism of the south but it was difficult, he was forced to try to adapt to the life of racism and unequal punishments. When he tried to fit in he failed and learned that he will never be excepted in the south. (Heather Poochigian)

Richard Wright does an excellent job vividly describing the struggles many blacks encountered in the south. Richard quickly realized he is less than human in the eyes of white people and found it quite difficult to adapt into the submissive and ignorant lifestyle. He had a "radical" way of thinking throughout his rearing and highly disliked unfair punishment and treatment associated with the south. He did not believe in the "laws" blacks were forced to abide by and did not agree with __the typical beatings, whippings, and rearing associated with the south.__ He did not want to address every white person as sir or ma'am, he did not want to bow his head in the presence of white people, and most importantly; he did not want to live a life of fear. Richards thirst and hunger for reading and writing is what enabled him to escape a life of ignorance and gave him the key to a life of reasoning; it allowed him to enter a place not a lot of black people ever had the pleasure of entering. Enrique Silva

Richard Wright describes racism in the South as violent, virulent and inescapable. He finds himself unable to adapt because he is unwilling to accept inequality as a natural “law” of the Jim Crow South. He continually missteps in interactions with whites because they expect him to be subservient, and he refuses to bow to that misguided expectation. Wright __feels the shock of racism, the trauma of racism, and the deception of racism__ very deeply; when death comes unexpectedly because of racial violence, grief forces Wright to retreat inside himself showing the psychological impact of racial violence. Yet Wright continually searched __for answers to white racism, for solutions to racial conflicts__, and for other options besides inherent inequality. He knew at a young age that he would have to leave the South to really overcome racial injustice, and he spent the rest of his life teaching the world about the injustice he witnessed there. Wright’s family tries to teach him to adapt by instilling fear, but this method only makes Wright more rebellious. __His inquisitive intellect, his individualistic personality and his strong will__ get him in trouble with his own family and whites on a regular basis. Dr. Schettler wrote this. Ty.

Richard sees racism in the South as a place where he cannot express himself. There is always fear on what colored people do around the whites and how they should act. The colored people are mainly forced to be who the whites like to be around and treat as much less than humans. This is something that Richard is not willing to accept. However, he has no choice but to bit his tongue and act as it is expected from him if he wants to save enough money to go to North. According the whites in the South colored people is well treated and they have had enough of a good life, without realizing that there is no dignity on the colored people lives. __Richard is a kid that grows in poverty, suffer from poverty and fights against poverty. He is a strong boy who his only weakness is to have colored skin, colored skin that is not accepted by society, colored skin that strikes him down all the time__. Richard Wright knows right from wrong, suffered from his dad’s wrong decisions and lives with his mom’s family’s choices and becomes to be a bright colored boy (Elizabeth Moreno).

Richard describes racism in the south as hostile, oppressive and prolific. Richard finds himself unable to adapt because he knows there is more to life than what he has been exposed to during his early years, and something in him yearns to reach beyond and find it. He has __a hunger that food will not satisfy; a thirst that drink will not quench__. As a youngster he recognized that there were blacks and whites, but not until later did he begin to understand that you were either black or white. The more he tries to gain knowledge about the differences between black and white, the more he is ridiculed and chastised by those closest to him. His family belittles him and puts him down for not accepting his ‘lot in life’. __He was born as a black; he will live as a black and he will die as a black.__ He doesn’t understand why they would choose to accept this without question and not want something better, especially after hearing how different things were in the north. He gets to a point where he cannot even express himself without fear of repercussion. He has to keep all of his thoughts and feelings bottled up inside as he searches for answers. Amber Archila

Richard describes racism as unbearable and agonizing. He knows there is so much more to life and he hungers for it. Life for him in the South was excruciating. He had to endure exploitation in every aspect of his life there. Even at home Richard was mistreated in the South. Even as a young child he hungered for the answers to why don’t they fight back? He never understood why Blacks would allow such abuse to happen to them by the Whites. His own mother slapped him when he tried to gain knowledge on how to overcome racism in their life. He only wanted better for him and his family, but he received no support anywhere. As he got a little older he realized there were boundaries that he must not cross. Boundaries that separate the Whites and Blacks. Boundaries that cannot be crossed in fear that punishment would be horrific. He tries his best to “fit” in and changes his demeanor. He gets advice from a friend on how to act around Whites, but it does not work. He is unable to hold back and adapt, all Richard wanted to do was support his mother, brother and write. (Jen Quintana)

Richard describes his racist experience as tough. His exact words he used were hostile, and oppressive. After living in the south, Richard finds it hard for him to adapt to his environment. Richard knows that it is a big world out their, and the south is just a small area. Richard is very passionate about living a great life outside the south. His hunger to do more then is expected of him in life will motivate him to excel. Richard treed to find out what the different was between blacks and whites but this was not beneficial for him, because people ridiculed him because of it. He is belittled by his family, for striding to be different then the norm. __He was born as a black; he will live as a black and he will die as a black.__ This ekes him from expressing his true feelings on the life he wants to live. He doesn't want to be looked at as in outsider in his environment. (Jerry Brown)

Richard describes living in the south as inescapable. He says the violence surrounding blacks in the south is unacceptable to him. Blacks are forced to behave the way whites want them to and if they refuse or attempt to become individualized that's when the violence comes in. He is unable to adapt to the ways of the south because he had a __**hunger for life, a hunger for knowledge, a hunger to write and a hunger to do everything they said black people could never do.**__ I believe through his writing and turning his writings into fiction made it easier for him to express his true feelings on the things that were going on around him. Through his writing he felt free, untouchable and like his voice would finally be heard. He battled self expression within his own household as well as outside of it and the only way he could get around it was to make up stories, so that is what he did. (Roe Turner)

Richard Wright describes racism as a daily encounter with the unfair treatment, the ignorant ideas and expectations based solely on his skin color. He struggles with the acceptance of inferiority to other races because he refuses to accept that he is any less of a person. From a young age his curiosity with things gets him in trouble but also makes him able to think differently from his family members. Instead of fearing white people like he is told to do he refuses to adapt to their beliefs. This mindset tends to get Richard Wright in trouble and since society sees him as an unequal they punish him unequally as well. __Treated violently, treated unfairly, and treated like inferiors,__ blacks around Richard Wright didn’t offer him any support for his refusal to adapt to the South’s ideas and accepted environment. Instead they chastised him which left Richard Wright to not be able to outwardly express his strong feelings, leaving him to keep them bottled up inside. (Sarah Pino)

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