Critical Lens Essay On 'Black Boy' By Richard Wright
Critical Lens Essay: Black Boy According to Richard Wright, “All literature is protest. You cannot name a single literary work that is not protest.” This means that literature is usually based on a reflection on society which is protest. Literature exposes the dark side of society. I agree with this quote because literature is one of the protruding ways to understand how one thinks about an idea. The author’s opinion is a protest against what other may believe. Coherently, in the bildungsroman Black boy by Richard Wright portrays how literature is protest. In bildungsroman Black Boy by Richard Wright, Richard, the narrator, describes Mencken’s effectiveness as he uses phrases such as “he was using words as a weapon.” This phrase shows
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He says, “I wanted to tell him that I was going north precisely to change, but I did not. ‘I’ll be the same,’ I said, trying to indicate that I had no imagination whatever.” (256). He does not say his thoughts, but rather tells the exact opposite of what he is planning to do. He shows that he is a Maverick and uses words to his advantage. Richard also constantly puts “sir” at the end of each statement he makes. He states, “No, sir. I don’t… Well, sir. I don’t know…” This gives a sarcastic and mocking tone from Richard. Clearly, Richard is “attacking” the men very subtly with his words of “sir” because he views the people in the North with disdain. Richard despised the North and before he left for Chicago, he mocked the white men with words like “sir” as weapons to express his hatred and disgust of the North. Both examples from Black Boy illustrate how words are used as weapons. His words could offend, console, enrage, or be a fatal weapon. In Wright’s unceasing quest for knowledge, he discovers a strange world that makes him feel “something new, of being affected by something that made the look of the world different.” (249). He sees the world with a whole, new different perspective and this allows him to use words as weapons to express his
He says, “I wanted to tell him that I was going north precisely to change, but I did not. ‘I’ll be the same,’ I said, trying to indicate that I had no imagination whatever.” (256). He does not say his thoughts, but rather tells the exact opposite of what he is planning to do. He shows that he is a Maverick and uses words to his advantage. Richard also constantly puts “sir” at the end of each statement he makes. He states, “No, sir. I don’t… Well, sir. I don’t know…” This gives a sarcastic and mocking tone from Richard. Clearly, Richard is “attacking” the men very subtly with his words of “sir” because he views the people in the North with disdain. Richard despised the North and before he left for Chicago, he mocked the white men with words like “sir” as weapons to express his hatred and disgust of the North. Both examples from Black Boy illustrate how words are used as weapons. His words could offend, console, enrage, or be a fatal weapon. In Wright’s unceasing quest for knowledge, he discovers a strange world that makes him feel “something new, of being affected by something that made the look of the world different.” (249). He sees the world with a whole, new different perspective and this allows him to use words as weapons to express his