Richard Wright

Richard Wright

Richard Wright was an African-American writer who focused on writing novels, plays and memoirs. Wrights works were mainly based on the desire to empower the blacks and started his writing career primarily in the US. The book, “Native Son” in 1940 was a breakthrough in Wright’s career, and he later grew to become a widely celebrated writer in the world. Wright’s works were inspired by the life he had in America, and he then had to relocate to Europe citing the extreme racism that forced him out of America. Richard Wright began his career shortly before the start of the Second World War, which the US was significantly involved and his first novel had already become a bestseller making him the wealthiest African-American writer of his era. Richard Wright was concerned in writing about the racial discrimination that was being aimed at the African-Americans from the late 19th to the mid 20th century with his major theme being Racism and violence against the black Americans both in the south and north.

The early life of Richard Wright played a significant role in influencing the type of works that Wright wrote. Wright was born amid tension that was settling after a civil war in America where most of his family members had participated in one way or the other, in the war. However, participation in the war was not a personal-made choice instead through slavery. Both the maternal and paternal grandfathers to Wright were victims and had been recruited as slaves who had to serve in the war to earn their freedom: “This writer [Richard Wright] was a grandson to black American slaves…,” Dunbar (1). The victims of slavery were the black Americans, and Richard had to grow with the mentality that the whites had a poor perception towards the blacks and hence his commitment to using literature to pass his message home. Richard would, therefore, grow to write his famous book, “Black Power: A Record of Reactions in a Land of Pathos” where he questioned the racial relations in a world that claims to respect humanity (Dunbar, 270).

Also, Richard was brought up in a religious family with the members of his family being affiliated to the Seventh Day Adventists’ beliefs. Richard was always at stifles with his aunt and grandmother since they always forced him to keep on praying to God and thus Richard grew up with a negative perception towards religion. The struggle between Richard and his relatives was because Richard thought that religion was subjecting people into struggles in a bid to seek a God they never saw. In one instance, Richard threatened to move out of his family since his grandmother could not allow him to work on a Saturday, which was the worship day for the seventh day Adventists. The events that welcomed the birth of Richard, as well as the life he lived in his early years, contributed much to his use of racial discrimination and violence against the blacks as the central theme in most of his writings.

Most of the Works written by Richard Wright were based on the theme of racial discrimination and violence against the blacks and other minority groups. Right from his bibliography, “Black Boy,” Richard admits to being aware of the existence of only two races: the blacks and the whites. Richard lived in a region inhabited only by the two races, yet he had no idea, or hint on any relationship if any existed between the two races. However, Richard was always curious and kept trying to get the relationship between the two races. Unfortunately for Richard, his quest to get the relations between the races only got him into problems several times. Richard eventually came to realize that race was the only definition of an individual residing in the south and he had to assume the role that the society had given him as a black boy. Richard decided to live as a black boy strategically to earn money that would help him to move to the north and start life as a normal man defined by character and class and not by race. The movement to the North gave Richard a better perception of the racism that used to exist in the south: “He was surprised by the absence of Jim Crow restrictions there and heartened by the possibility of living his life without the fear of lynching…,” Gómez (33). The events that surround Richard as explained in the bibliography were all directed into building a theme of racial discrimination in Richard’s mind. For example, Richard came to learn that white men killed his uncle and he was not allowed to talk about it. Also, Richard learnt of his friend’s uncle who was also killed by the white men. The relation of the two races became clearer when Richard learnt that his aunt and uncle could not talk about the events that were becoming rampant and that fear was the norm of the day, and silence ensured survival. Richard, therefore, grew up with a negative attitude towards the mistreatments that the blacks were going through, at the hands of the whites. On top of the use of the common theme of racism by Richard, he also uses a bright combination of literary devices in his works to convey his ideas and beliefs.

The efficient combination of literary devices by Richard enables the targeted audience to get the intended message. The novel, “Black Boy” for example employs a wide use of foreshadowing to give the expectations that Richard has about life in future. In the south, Richard’s experience with the whites is not the best, and he plans to live a better life in future. Initially, Richard does not seem to have a clear picture concerning life in the south. After the killing of his uncle by the whites, Richard thinks that he has a right to get more information concerning the events. Richard does not seem to know that getting more information about the whites-only leads him to more problems. In a bit of strategy, Richard decides to assume the role given to him by the society concerning his relationship with the whites. As a foreshadowing for Richard’s hopes of a better future, Richard decides to behave literary as a black boy to survive in the white-dominated land.  Richard hopes that life in the north will be free of racism and he needed money to travel to the north. Also, the decision by Richard to move from the US to France can be seen as a bit of foreshadowing since Richard is determined that France is safe from the racism that existed. Richard decides to leave the US completely and decides to stay in France. Fore-shadowing is not the only device employed by Richard in his literary work since he also uses imagery to make his message clear.

The use of imagery by Richard in different books has been essential in outlining the sour relationship that exists between the whites and the blacks. First, Richard has created an image of mistreatment in his mind to define the whites. Each encounter between Richard and a white gave him a feeling that he deserved better than the whites were already giving. Richard used to view the whites as individuals who were waiting for a slight mistake to get a justification for lynching him. Also, Richard uses imagery in his book, “Native Man” to portray the hostility that was evident between the whites and the blacks. For example, Bigger kills a white girl due to the mistreatment the girl’s white mother had been making bigger to go through. The killing of the girl by Bigger is well represented to create an image of tension and unfriendliness. Also, the use of imagery in the different texts has been used to represent the struggle that was happening in Chicago in the times of Richard (Bienen, 437). Generally, the use of imagery has helped a great deal in helping Richard to pass the message to the desired audience.

In sum, the life of Richard Wright was instrumental in building his writing career. The early life of Richard happened in a society surrounded by racism, and thus his theme has been mainly racism and violence against the blacks. The use of literary devices has served well to help Richard in passing his message to the right audience. Generally, the life of Richard was a clear reflection of his literary works.