Wiki-2-3

Wiki posting #2 (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?

In the South during the 1900's, It was very rough growing up for Richard Wright and family/friends. Wright did not understand the real reason behind racism .All he knew was that the blacks were the ones working for the whites who were dominant during this era. Richard grew up not understanding why these two races were so segregated.uld ask his mom about rasicm but she would not answer or even try and let him understand which made him more curious as to find the meaning behind all of the violence. As he got older it was harder he was able to teach himself the meaning behind the struggles his family deals with as well as other black families. Richard had to experience racism first hand when his uncle was murdered by whites because the whites were jealous that Richards uncle was so successful.Through these hopeless experiences where hope arsises and he soon finds out that the best way he can cope with difficulies and express his feelings were through his gift of writing. __The whites had all dominance, the whites did not want to be over power, the whites did not want to feel inferior.__ (Alina Abbate)

Wright describes racism in the South as cruel, violent, inhumane, brutal, and inevitable. __He cannot accept, he cannot conform, and he cannot allow himself to be a victim of inequality based on his race.__ From his childhood he learns to fear whites, especially after they killed his uncle. He was afraid of getting beat for no apparent reason. As his interactions with whites became more common, he learned that he couldn’t be himself or speak his mind, because he was a nigger who had no rights. He would get beat or killed if the whites knew how he felt about their treatment towards his kind. He was forced to move to the North in hopes of finding a better life, and more freedom. He was excited to start a new life, but life in the North was not as easy as he thought. He still experience discrimination and injustice. When he was working in the Lab at the hospital Richard and other black employees were treated as animals. Richard was never allowed to fill his thirst for knowledge, he was filled with questions, but at the hospital he was just a black boy; doing the dirty work of cleaning and caring for animals. Wright wanted to change racism, he wanted to find solutions to the problem, and through his writing he was able to free himself from his reality, at least temporarily. (Lucero Rivera)

Humera Khan: Black Boy portrays the deprivation Wright faces growing up. It shows poverty, hunger, and lack of emotional support, miserable living conditions, and Richard's response to these difficulties. Many of the hardships of Wright's family life are direct or indirect results of racial discrimination. Once Wright enters the world of work, he finds racism pervasive and intolerable. Wright describes racism in the South as violent, cruel and unequal. He had difficult time adapting and coping with all these factors in the black community. He felt as though blacks are not human and they are incapable of anything. Racism and inequality were topics that were for bidden to discus in the home. The women were afraid to answer Wright’s questions because they worried about the consequences. They worried that if they tell the curious child about the inequality and why whites are superior to black, he would go out and do something horrible. Wright is a rebellious child indeed. For Richard, home is a place of intense emotional conflict, and his family forces him to fight back constantly in order to be able to pursue his own path. But the family also offers support in times of crisis, for example, when his mother has a stroke. Later, some of his friends criticize him for not acting as whites expect him to. But Richard defies all of them and continues on his rebellious course. **Wright suffers hunger, hunger for food, hunger for love, hunger for knowledge, and hunger for defense for what he believes is right.** On page 163, Wright is addressed as a “nigger” only**,** when the dog bit him, he was told that a dog can’t bite a nigger. “If it bothers you, let me know,” he said. “But I never saw a dog yet that could really hurt a nigger.” I agree with Ian Loveall that a black man is a human but to the white employer blacks are not people. Everywhere he went, he had to put up with racist comments. He is struggling throughout to adapt all this.

**Richard Wright wanted to leave the South, the South that is controlled by whites, and the South that is overwhelmed with racism which makes the South no place for African Americans.** The thing that Richard could not believe about the south is how his people were treated and the fact that they would just act as if there was nothing wrong with this was of life. With Richard trying to escape the racism in the south and the only way that he can get away is by writing. When Richard starts writing he is able to get away and create his own world and do what he wishes. In writing the South, Whites, or Racism can affect what he writes. Richard’s mind is his place to go and be free from everything. (CHRIS PARK)

From the things he has been experiencing in the South, I would have to say he is seeing racism to be more cruel and cruel with each experience he has. One incident in which really got to him was when he had gone out looking for a job. The lady that he first inquired a job with asked him questions pertaining to school and that why is he in school for. He answered saying, “I want to be a writer.” She was surprised by his answer but then gave a remark in which made him realize that in her eyes (and possibly in the eyes of white people) he, as a black person, is nothing and no one. The white lady said to him, “you’ll never be a writer –who on earth put such ideas into your nigger head?(p.147)” So because he was Black, she felt he should have known his place in that world and that he was going to go nowhere. And so with whatever dreams he had for his future, for him to basically drop him dream for it won’t ever come true. He left home knowing that his ego and his people had been assaulted. Thinking to himself, he knew white people were cruel but told himself that there must be good white people out there, people that have both money and sensitive feelings. From this, I would assume the reason why Wright is unable to adapt to the reality of racism is because for most of his life, he’s been shut out of all his questions. For the fact that he would use to always ask his mother about these types of issues and she would either give him little detail and/or ignore his questions as to why things are the way they are towards black people. [**Whites have proper education, whites have adequate food, whites have control. While blacks are left with second rate education, left with leftover scraps of food and left with helplessness.**] (Mai Cha)

Through Richard Wright’s perspective in “Black Boy” racism in the South was powerful, brutal, repulsive, and inevitable, and therefore, __whites were powerful, whites were controlling, and whites were dangerous__. In the South, whites had total control over one’s life and future. Wright __struggled to__ understand__, he struggled to__ adapt, and __he struggled to__ survive in the Jim Crow South. As a black boy in the South he was expected to be obedient to the whites, but Wright found it difficult and rejected such foolish ideas. Even as his family tried to instill fear in him to help him survive in the South, Wright refused to adhere to the oppression. Due to Wright’s powerful __need for intelligence__, __need for autonomy__, and __need for change__; he found himself faced with continual turmoil with whites and even his own family. Throughout his life, Richard __faced hardships, he faced hunger, and he faced tragedy__. However, __the will to survive, the will to eat, and the will to be equal__ to whites was the force that pushed Wright to fight against racism. (Jennifer Landers)

How does Wright describe racism in the South? Why is he unable to adapt?

Richard Wright describes racism as violent, a sense of hunger, and unchangeable. Through stories of lynching and other negative racial experiences, he disturbingly learned that many Southern white men would beat and/or lynch blacks for economic reasons and as a means of punishment. **White brutality, white terror, and white privilege** were some aspects of the South that Wright observed. He feared white men, while trying to contain his negative facial expressions in the presence of white men, because the threat of white brutality, white terror, and white privilege. Another aspect that Wright learned about the South was a sense of hunger. He had a passion of having **hunger for education, hunger for reading, hunger for writing,** and **hunger for comprehension.** His hunger for reading and comprehension opened doors of curiosity of what life for him could be like if he wasn’t oppressed in the South. **The more** he discovered through his readings, **the more** his outlook on reality changed. He is unable to adapt to racism mainly because he doesn’t initially comprehend the reasoning for dissemblance, which is obtaining two faces where one is strictly demonstrated in front of white people and the other face is used for family and friends. Although he did not agree with the racial discrimination, he had to attempt to use dissemblance in order to obtain a job, especially since he thought racial discrimination was unchangeable. [Natacha Woodson]

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?

Writing was a tool Richard Wright used to express his feelings __towards racial violence, towards the oppression he felt,__ and racial division. As a member of the Communist Party, Richard wanted to find out more about the violence and sacrifices others made in order to live by writing a book of biographical sketches, questioning everything about the persons life. However, writing about others lives was not welcomed kindly by his fellow Communists. They viewed his writing as opposition to the parties beliefs. Richard did not intend for his writing to be political, but to reveal the dramas of everyday struggle, violence, and fear which connected so many lives. He was __constantly doubted of his objectives, constantly hassled by other members,__ and looked upon as an intellectual because of his desire to write. Wright pondered the effect writing about the suffering of racial violence could have on him and those he was close with. He could not understand how there was so much hate even within the Communist group when their mission was to stop it. Wright __continued to use writing__ to reveal the meaning of the "Negro experience", and __continued to run__ into racial hate, oppression, and division on his journey. [Amy Tucker]

Humera Khan: Black Boy portrays the deprivation Wright faces growing up. It shows poverty, hunger, and lack of emotional support, miserable living conditions, and Richard's response to these difficulties. Many of the hardships of Wright's family life are direct or indirect results of racial discrimination. Once Wright enters the world of work, he finds racism pervasive and intolerable. Wright describes racism in the South as violent, cruel and unequal. He had difficult time adapting and coping with all these factors in the black community. He felt as though blacks are not human and they are incapable of anything. Racism and inequality were topics that were for bidden to discus in the home. The women were afraid to answer Wright’s questions because they worried about the consequences. They worried that if they tell the curious child about the inequality and why whites are superior to black, he would go out and do something horrible. Wright is a rebellious child indeed. For Richard, home is a place of intense emotional conflict, and his family forces him to fight back constantly in order to be able to pursue his own path. But the family also offers support in times of crisis, for example, when his mother has a stroke. Later, some of his friends criticize him for not acting as whites expect him to. But Richard defies all of them and continues on his rebellious course. **Wright suffers hunger, hunger for food, hunger for love, hunger for knowledge, and hunger for defense for what he believes is right.** On page 163, Wright is addressed as a “nigger” only**,** when the dog bit him, he was told that a dog can’t bite a nigger. “If it bothers you, let me know,” he said. “But I never saw a dog yet that could really hurt a nigger.” I agree with Ian Loveall that a black man is a human but to the white employer blacks are not people. Everywhere he went, he had to put up with racist comments. He is struggling throughout to adapt all this.

Richard Wright experienced the true reality of what living in the south really was. **As he grew older he became more aware of the cruelty, of the struggles, of the injustices, of the racism that the white southerners practiced on black people.** His search for a job brought him to new experiences that taught him this idea of white supremacy. For Wright the white’s domination over black people was not acceptable in any way. Witnessing the abuse and negative attitudes of the whites’ infurioused him and no matter how hard he tried, he could not adjust to these situations. His strong character was a key factor that helped him fight this racial inequality, helped to aspire to dreams that others wouldn’t dare to think, and to overall prevent him from accepting this white supremacy. The incidence where he was beaten in work by two white males for no justification and the incident where his boss and his son abused a black woman both showed him this inequality of race and class. Wright learned to somehow trick the whites into thinking that their actions were justified or indifferent to him**. His rejection of the violence, of the cruelties, of the humiliations, of the horrors, of the injustices that blacks went through under the authority of the whites brought him conflicts with society and his family.** Racism in the south was vast brutality and harsh violence against blacks and even though there were people who adapted to these conditions, Wright refused to endure such insensitive actions. (Rosana Nunez)

Amber Bowen: To Wright, racism in the South was mind boggling __. He did not learn what it was from his mother. He did not learn what it was from his pastor. He did not even learn what it was from his teachers. __ He learned it __through __ experience, __through __ trial and error, __through __ being beat for wrongs he did not perceive as inherently wrong. He was unable to adapt because he had a strong sense of justice and injustice. He was too stubborn to be treated poorly for something he could not help.

There is a difference between understood and understand. This difference, as one could imagine, is bent upon a precipice of interpretation. Crowned convictions begging colored convicts to which all of it, none it makes any sense. Wright understood the Jim Crow South; he knew it because he lived it every day. He understood there were limitations for people of color. Limitations that fabricated the world that encompassed Negroes and traversed them about the bounds of society where the ineffable dominancy of whites allowed progression akin to that of a megalithic stone stuck to mud. Wright understood this. He didn’t, however, understand why. “What was it that made the hate of whites for blacks so steady, seemingly so woven into the texture of things? What kind of life was possible under hate? How had this hate come to be?” (Wright 164). I just realized I have no idea how to parenthetically cite after a question mark. I doubt anyone reads this far into a post anyway. Back to Wright. Moreover, he saw no dogma in other blacks to try and better anything. They quipped at their petty nuances and individual wrongs they suffered, but sought no conviction for the community as a whole. Wright witnessed racism as an accepted virtue in the south. He could not understand it. Could not fathom it. Even under his curious analytical gaze, Wright saw no tangible reasoning for Jim Crow. His inability to adapt is the same reason many of us refuse to swim. It becomes more than just past present, understood and understand. Pinned below the surface of foreign fold, Wright refused to understand the practical reality in which he lived. That a person of color, his future would be destined to no more than a working hand. For all his sufferings, his hunger, Wright would not swallow contemptuous ideals for the sake of anyone. - Ken Cadiente

Richard Wright describes racism in the South as very violent and unfriendly. It was a world where he was not able to fully express himself and some things seemed to remain a secret. Racism was something that Richard struggled hard to understand, and his questions about it would remain unanswered. Unable to adapt, he turns to reading, where he finally begins to get some answers. He finds out that the newspapers and magazines that he had been reading were those from the Klu Klux Klan and by him reading it, he would only be helping them destroy the Black community. It becomes more prevalent when he starts to work. As he works for the White people, he sees first hand the differences they had between the Blacks. Richard witnesses a world full of discrimination, where Blacks being __treated unequal, treated as if they were a separate species, treated like they didn’t belong.__ This was a world full of hatred towards the other races, where one dominated over the other. However, through it all, he never stops searching for answers, searching for ways to make it right. (Moriah Gatson)

Richard describes racism in the South as something ordinary in the lives of black people. It took him a while to understand why people of his color where treated differently. He was very curious about this issue as he was growing up, which caused him many beatings by family members so that he wouldn’t touch the subject anymore, but beatings didn’t stop his curiosity. All he ever wanted was to understand why __he couldn’t eat all the food and drink all the milk he wanted, like white people did__. __Why he couldn’t have a stable job like white people did__, and in general __why his life was totally different than the lives of white people__. It took him a lot of harsh experiences in the white community to understand racism. To understand that black people according to white people did not feel pain, for example. For instance, when he got bit by the dog at work and the white owner of the workplace told him that he was going to be fine because niggers didn’t feel pain. By what the white man told Richard we can see that they viewed black people as nonhuman, they didn’t have a minimal consideration nor respect for them. They treated them badly sometimes for the simplest things and other times for no reason. Richard has a hard time adapting because he doesn’t quite know what racism is because he never knew it existed since no one in his surroundings nor intimate family ever took the time to explain to him the issue of being black. Everything began to make since to Richard and he slowly began to understand the whole racism issue when he stared working for white people and he started to put everything together. That’s when he started feeling this hatred towards white people because of how they treated him while he worked for them. - Sammy Rincon __Richard cannot adapt to the reality of life because his reality seems far differant than those around him.__ Richard describes racism as he sees it and witnesses it first hand. I think its particularly confusing to him because no one in his life really explains to him the real meaning of racism. Nobody even explains to him the difference in races. He learns from an early age that both white people and certain black people are superior to him. This is a reason why he is unable to adapt to the real racism. He has superior black people in his life like his granny, aunts, uncles, in which he is forced to respect. Then you have white people in general that he needs to respect. I think Richard has a really hard time adapting because he sees no difference. As a young boy he sees life as him against the rest of the world. He feels misunderstood by everyone in his life and I don't blame him. In the eyes of his family he can't do anything right. First you have Aunt Maggie who hates Richard because she sees him as an undisciplined child. She doesn't really try to help him much either. He is beat by almost everyone of his relatives because they all beleive he needs to be disciplined. What they don't realize is that Richard doesn't understand what he is being disciplined for about 99% of the time. He admits it himself that he is willing to take a beating if he knows its just. Richard didn't realize the real understanding of racism until he started working for white people and with white people. I think a huge awakening for him was when Uncle Hoskins died, but even then, Richard struggled with the real understanding of his death. No one in his family considered to talk to Richard about it. He learned it on his own. I think that was part of the reason as to why Richard enjoyed writing so much. I think because he could not express himself as a child to anyone in his life that writing was a way to express how he was feeling and express his thoughts on racism. Almost every book that Richard wright wrote was on racism and he excelled in it. -Katie Crane

===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? === ====Wright used writing as a way to escape the oppression he felt in all angles of life. Richard experienced maltreatment from the white-folk he worked for, the children at school, and the family living in the same house. Richard felt isolated and alone every day. Writing allowed Wright to finally release all suppressed feelings he never felt. When he could sneak in a read of a magazine, newspaper, or textbook, he read and read until he couldn’t read anymore. Wright’s exploration of literature allowed Richard to escape his current living world and step into a whole new atmosphere. The new atmosphere is where Richard could dream about moving to the North and plan on getting out of his life. Richard’s writing was parallel with his working, saving, and dreaming. Along with his isolation within Granny’s house, came creative stories, one which was published. The children at school found out he was being published and instead of making him a popular child, it created a stigma. **__People thought Richard was too smart, too intellectual, and too non-conformist for his own good. Richard did not believe in god, he did not believe in “bowing down to the white man”, and he did believe in wrongful beatings from his family members for being different.__** Reading and writing were the first emotional experiences Richard felt, he wanted more, whether or not his community or family believed he should. -Ashlee Hickey ====

Wright experienced racism in the South differently than most people within his community. He did not interact much with whites while he was growing up; he did not work for a white family until much later on during school. Thus, Wright did not know that there were certain unwritten rules of conduct in the South, which his friend Griggs helps him with. __Richard did not know that he had to refer to a white man as “sir” at all times; he did not know that he had to quickly move out of the way when a white person passed him. He did not know why black life in the South had to be so bleak, and he did not know why nobody was doing anything about it.__ His encounters with white people end badly because of the smallest offense. He gradually becomes aware of the fact that the smallest mistake could mean the end of his life. Even though he begins to abide by these unfair and unwritten rules, he never accepts them or adjusts to them. Thus, he feels that the only key to happiness is to flee to the North. Wright is never able to adjust to the violent, hostile, and terrifying nature of black life in the South.

-Elizabeth Ingalls

Richard Wright was raised in Jim Crow South, under the strict social codes that oppressed blacks, but he simply could not assimilate into that society. “This was the culture from which I sprang…this was the terror from which I fled ” (pp. 257). __Wright was always different; different from his family, different from other blacks, and different from the South.__ Simply put, he did not belong in the region and he ultimately reached the conclusion that he did not belong in America. He described the South as rigid in its rules and hostile towards its people; though blacks were widespread, whites were the dominant and master race. __The region was no place for questions, no place for advancement, and no place for a black boy.__ Wright grew up questioning the rules that created the strict divisions between blacks and whites; this simply was not tolerated. __His family made significant efforts to curb his inquisitive nature and the South made significant efforts to assimilate him into a subservient existence.__ Wright’s strong will, determination, and ambitions of advancement were much too strong; __he could not accept the South and the South could not accept him__, because he knew there was much more to life. (Gilbert Felix)

Wright describes racism in the south as violent, cruel, confusing and hostile. Wright is unable to gain social and economical advancement while in the south. Even if he did, Wright characteristics as a human being does not match those of the south. Writing is the only way Wright can get away from **the horror, the humility and the reality of the south.** Writing and reading were the first feelings of passion he had felt and we wanted more. (Jorge Carrillo)

Richard Wright, man of hunger for knowledge and curiosity cannot live the white man's ideal of the southern south. Griggs even tells Richard "You won't let people tell you things. You rush too much. I'm trying to help you and you won't let me.(183)" Griggs is trying to explain that he needs to behave according to the Jim Crow Laws and expected to behave based on the white southern attitudes. Richard's view of south is just plain violence. **He has been beaten up by white strangers who offered him a ride, intimidated by his co-workers, and humiliated by his spectators for participating in boxing match with another black man.** At times he just smiles and he responds "Yes sir" or "No sir," as a disguise for his true feelings. In thoughts he wonder of why can't his fellow blacks fight back and revolt to the southern whites? The decision Richard made was to move to the North. (Ronnie Serquinia)