Big Black Good Man
Big Black Good Man The idea of racism and prejudice has seemingly always been apart of society. Whether it were to be as bad as a full out segregation of schools or just underlying thoughts. In the short story “Big Black Good Man” by Richard Wright. The narrator has a limited omniscient point of view. This gives us great insight into what the main character Olaf Jenson is thinking about the other character Jim throughout the story. Richard Wright did a great job of giving us a look into what was then and may still be today, an example of the average racist. The short story “Big Black Good Man” by Richard Wright, begins with the main character Olaf Jenson sitting at his desk in a hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark. In the beginning of the story Olaf explains how he wishes he could’ve had children and then continues to say “Well, my tenants are my children”(185), informing us that he cares for everyone of the people that come and stay in the hotel. Then shortly after midnight a man comes into the hotel. To Olaf this was no ordinary man. “The big black cloud of a man lumbered into the office”(185), Olaf acted as if this man wasn’t a man at all. According to Olaf “His chest bulged like a barrel; his rocklike and humped shoulders hinted of mountain ridges; the stomach ballooned like a threatening stone; and the legs were like telephone poles…”(185) In the beginning Olaf was not so much frightened as he was just surprised because he had never seen someone of that size, someone with that darkness of skin. It was as if it could not be possible for him to exist as merely a man. Olaf referred to him as the black giant. The black man came to the hotel looking for a room. As the man got closer, Olaf began to grow a little fearful. “At once his was ashamed and confused. Sheer fear had made him yield. And he seethed against himself for his involuntary weakness” (185). Olaf was beginning to plot to himself, trying to think of excuses in his head that would make it so that