Black+Boy+and+The+Secret+Life+of+Bees

Throughout the novel,//The Secret Life of Bees// Lily Owens, the main character discovers a new found family while staying in Tiburon, South Carolina. Although she traveled to Tiburon to investigate her mother’s past, she also ends up finding a true family in the people she encounters there. Lily stayed with three sisters, May, June, and August Boatwright who take her in and show her what a real family is. Due to her al of her mother and her mean, heartless father, Lily does not have a real meaning of what it means to be loved. While Lily is pouring her heart out to August, August says, “Even if you did ally kill her, you are still the most dear, most lovable I know. Why, Rosaleen loves you. May loved you. It doesn’t take a wizard to see Zach loves you. And every one of the Daughters loves you. And June, despite her ways, loves you, too” (Kidd, 242). August sees what a special Lily is through their beekeeping together and talks of Lily’s past. Lily also finds a mother in the Black Mary that the sisters and their friends worship simply because the Black Mary loves all for who they are despite their sins and their past. For instance, August says, “This Mary I’m talking about sits in your heart all day long saying, ‘Lily you are my everlasting home’ ” (Kidd, 289). Towards the end of the novel Lily says, “I have more mothers than any eight s on the street. They are the moons shining over me” (Kidd, 302). Lily’s curiosity of her mother’s past turns out to be a blessing because it leads her to her true family she did not even know she was searching for. Not only did Lily find a new family, so did the sisters. Three major issues from the book, race, faith, and family prove to be very different from my life. For example, the book was set in the 1960’s when whites and blacks were separated due to their skin color. I am fortunate to not have to live in a time period of segregation and racial discrimination. Another major theme in the novel is faith. The Boatwright sisters worship the Black Mary, a three foot tall wooden statue of the mother of Jesus. However, I worship Jesus, someone who you cannot see or touch. The last topic, family is very different in my life compared to Lily. Lily only had the chance to spend four years with her mother while I hopefully will have the blessing of spending my whole life with her. In addition, Lily had to live with her mean father for fourteen years of her life. I never had to experience such a ful and loveless father like Lily did. Although my life is very different from most of the characters, the need for family is the same. In the book Black Boy there are many controversies with Richards’s faith and his race. In the book Richard shows that he believes in God, but he just doesn’t like to go to church. He also s all of his grandma rules about faith. For example Richards grandma made him pray every night for and hour. Richard though it was good to pray, but he though that he should only have to pray for a little each day. In the book Richard also had to deal with race against blacks. When he was growing up he didn’t deal with that much, but when he got older and started to work he dealt with a lot. For example when he worked for Mr. Crane in which he cleaned lens for a job. Although Mr. Crane didn’t bother Richard because he was black Mr. Cranes other workers Pease and Reynolds were very racist against Richard. For example one day they were going to bet Richard because Reynolds told Pease that Richard had called him Pease not Mr. Pease and by doing this they made Richard quit his job. Although the book black boy Richard deals with his family getting mad at him for no reason although he did make some mistakes that he should get in trouble he didn’t deserve all of the whippings he got. One day Richard was in his room with his brother and Richard was board so he started to burn straws and he cough the curtains on fire which lead to part of the house catching on fire. That was one of the times he should have got in to trouble. Another time he wrote a fiction story in school because he board. Then he got it published in the paper and his family read it and they got mad at him and his grandma was going to beat him for writing a story. This was a time that he shouldn’t have been beaten because he didn’t do anything he was just using his amjanation. Another time Richard got in trouble because he asked Ella the school teacher who rented a room from Richards’s grandma for a little while. One day when Ella was sitting out side reading a book Richard asked her what it was about, but she said that she couldn’t tell him because his grandma wouldn’t like it, but Richard keep asking. Then one day she finally gave in and told him right as she told him his grandma walked out and she freaked out and of course she beat Richard. This was another example when Richard got beat he shouldn’t have been beaten. Although Richard did deserve to be beat some times most of the time he didn’t deserve to be beaten. Jeremy Shirley In the book, The Secret Life of Bees, Lily Owens is impacted in many ways throughout the novel with the topics of race, family, and faith. The one topic that seems to re-occur throughout the novel is "family." In the novel, Lily Owens starts out as an insecure teenager who is treated poorly by her father and her schoolmates. Lily is unhappy and her only friend is Rosaleen. Rosaleen is Lily's maid and she is the only woman Lily can confide in. As we find out early in the book, Lily has gone through a traumatic in the family. When Lily was young, she ly pulled the trigger of a gun on her mother. Lily's father, T. Ray, blames Lily for the of her mother and is angered whenever he sees her. T. Ray is her only known family and he treats her as no father should ever treat their child. When the arrest of Rosaleen comes into the story, the reader sees how Lily is impacted by this because she is loosing her only friend. She risks everything to save Rosaleen and start a new life. Lilys love for Rosaleen is apparent because she can't risk this happening again, so they run away and leave everything they have ever know behind. When they get to Tiberon, South Carolina Lily then meets someone named August, whom she looks up to and considers a "mother-figure." Family is something that nobody can live without. Lily is truly happy when she finds the people that she was meant to be with. August and the Boatwright sisters are something that Lily was longing to have and God blessed her with a family that loves her. In my life, the one thing I struggle with is faith. Faith is not something that comes naturally. In the novel, Lily finally understands faith when she touches the heart of the "black Mary." In my life, I finally understood faith when Jesus touched my heart. Faith can come-and-go in a short amount of time without you realizing that it is even gone. Practicing faith in our everyday lives is something that has to be done to make our relationship with Jesus strong. Going to church, praying at night, making the right decisions, and hanging out with the right people are all examples of things that can help you with you faith. In my life, faith can be hard to keep. With all of the activities going on, sometimes I loose sight of what truly matters. God is the one thing that can help us in our lives. Knowing Him can make our day-to-day lives seem much easier. Like Lily, I sometimes question my faith, lie, and do things that are wrong. The only way we can make things right is by confessing and asking for forgiveness. Lily confesses to August and the black Mary just like I confess to God. Faith is something that you can not let go, and the only way you can strengthen it is by practicing it everyday. Richard Wright’s race and opposition to other races played a big role in the book __Black Boy__. Richard is a young boy who lives in the South in his younger days. Throughout Richard’s many jobs he runs into trouble regarding his race. While working for an optical company in Mississippi, Richard is told by his boss to learn the trade from two white co-workers. However, his co-workers are very racist and don’t show Richard what he should do, even when Richard asks them to. When the two co-workers grow tired of Richard working with them the come up with a plan to get Richard to leave his work. The co-workers falsely accuse Richard of calling one man Pease, instead of Mr. Pease. Although Richard didn’t make this mistake he is beaten by the two men and quits his job, due to fear he might be killed if he comes back. While holding another job at an optical company, Richard runs into a different kind of trouble dealing with a white man. Mr. Olin, Richard’s boss, tells Richard that a black boy who works across the street, Harrison, is after Richard and is going to stab him. Harrison’s boss tells him the same thing about Richard. After Richard and Harrison talk to each other, they realize neither of them is mad at the other, and their bosses just wanted them to fight. This shows the white men’s true cruelty and towards blacks. After the bosses grow tired of waiting for the boys to get into a fight, they offer to pay both Richard and Harrison five dollars to have a boxing match. After much hesitating Richard decides to take the deal and fights Harrison. After Richard’s many encounters with ful white men, he became determined to leave from the South up to Chicago, in the North. Despite not being exposed to too much racial diversity, I have seen or heard racist acts that are purely disgusting. Luckily, I or any of my family or friends have never been threatened or beaten up because of their race. Living in the South I’ve seen many Confederate flags on cars, houses, and even towels. One person was so rude and ful that they came into a Dairy Queen with a Confederate flag towel around them. To me the Confederate flag represents and bigotry towards black people. If I was black and somebody was displaying the Confederate flag, it would feel like a spit in the face. We should make sure to not say anything racist to prevent future generations from having the same problem some of us still have today. Also, we should stand up against any racists for being so rude and inconsiderate.
 * For a HW grade, please respond to the following prompt: The two different books you guys read both have a do with issues of race, faith, and family. Using specific references to the book, write a medium length paragraph about how one or more of those topics impacted the characters in the book. Then, write another paragraph either discussing how your own experiences with race, faith, and family are similar to or different from the book; or, you may write about a second issue from the book (race, faith, or family) if you do not want to share from your own life. Please post your responses here and be sure to put your name and the date after your post.**
 * Holly Boyd 8-23-08**
 * McKenzie Stanford (8/24/08)

William Edwards (8/24/08)

In the novel //Black Boy//, Richard Wright is introduced to the Christian doctrine at a very young age. His mother, Granny, and Aunt Addie are all family members who encourage Richard to become a Christian. From participating in Granny’s all-night prayer sessions to attending Aunt Addie’s strict Seventh-Day Adventist school, Richard feels forced by his family to become a believer even though he feels like he is not ready to do so yet. Although Richard conveys that Christianity is emotionally appealing to him when listening to the vibrant expression of the sermons at church, he then describes his skepticism by stating, “As soon as I went out of the church and saw the bright sunshine and felt the throbbing life of the people in the streets I knew that none of it was true and that nothing would happen,” (Wright 102). After Granny realizes she mistakenly heard Richard say that he saw an angel in the church, she and Aunt Addie declare him “lost” and officially stop trying to save his soul (Wright 122). Although Richard eventually is baptized, he still thinks church and Sunday school are boring and meaningless. Christianity is not just the faith of the Wright family, but it shapes the family’s attitudes towards Richard as he grows up. Christianity is something very important to the Widner family. But on the other hand, my family is not as stringent of the Christian way of life as the Wright family is. I did go to church and Sunday school when I was a young child and I still do now. That is where the similarities end between Richard Wright and me. When Richard is young, he is pressed to become an avid follower just like the other members of his family. In contrast, my parents themselves have never really pushed me too hard to have a relationship with God. Of course, they have supported my Christian walk all of my life, and they are Christians as well. They have let my relationship develop not just through their own instruction, but through church, Wesleyan, and my best friends. Lastly, Richard is punished because he doesn’t believe in the institutions of the Christian faith. I would not be reprimanded by my parents in this situation, but they would persuade me gently to start considering Christianity. The essentiality of the walk of faith is ever-present in both my family and in the Wright family, but the ways Richard and I were brought up are entirely different.

Drew Widner (8/24/08)

In Richard Wright’s classic, //Black Boy,// the issue of race effected both Richard and his family. Throughout the book, there were always white people who were racially harassing Richard. From the beginning to the end of the book Richard experienced and endured the cruelties of living in the Jim Crow South. When he was a child, Richard would fight other white children with his gang of friends. Of course, the whites showed the same type of aggression perhaps more often to Richard and his fellow African Americans. When Richard went to school, he was in an all African American school system. He lived in an all black neighborhood. Every time that Richard had a job, he was either kicked out or was forced to leave just because of the color of his skin. One time, when he was working for Mr. Olin, Richard was threatened by his white colleagues and had to quit his job. Another time Richard was almost tricked by another white worker in Memphis. His boss tried to tell Richard that his friend, Harrison, wanted to kill him. Richard’s boss wanted to see Richard and Harrison fight and kill each other just for his own amusement. To me, this is just wrong. I don’t see how anyone would want to do something like this even if they were racist and prejudiced. Eventually Richard moved to the North to evade the most racial people of the United States at that time. Although I live in the South now, most people are not racist like they were some 80 years ago. I don’t experience as much. I hear a lot more racist remarks towards Latin American people now than I do towards black people. In lower school, I remember hearing hurtful remarks directed towards an Afghani classmate after 9/11. At the time, I remember being scared, but not racist towards, Middle Eastern people. Now I realize that she and her family were just trying to get away from all of the horrors in Afghanistan when they immigrated here after 9/11. I think that now we live in a society 100% against towards most cultures.

Colin Stone 24 August 2008 Tyler McNaughton August 25,2008 In the book //Black Boy//, the subject of is a major part of the book. When young, Richard does not see a difference between white and black people. He naïvely thinks that every one is the same and white people are equal to black people. However as he gets older and learns about, he sees a difference between white and black but doesn’t understand. He doesn’t change his views on quickly and is scarred because of it. For example, Richard starts working for contact business run by Mr. Olin. Mr. Olin has two racist workers who trap Richard. They say that Richard did not respectfully call a coworker by Mr. and just said his name. Richard realizes that if he says yes or no he will be beaten up. Mr. Olin saves Richard but Richard is too scared and quits. Then Richard is working for another boss who tries to get Richard to fight another black boy for 5 dollars. Richard agrees with the boy to fake fight, but they do not know how to fake fight so they really fight. These are ways that is a major part of //Black Boy//. I have never had much in my life. Even though Atlanta is in the South, much has changed since the nineteen hundreds. There is still resentment from African Americans about. I wont lie and say that there still isn’t any about and that it will end. I just believe that society takes a few bad examples of African Americans and presents them as the standard. For example, society believes that most black people steal and do. I do not believe this even though I have an example. Two years ago, two black people, high on meth, broke into my family’s house. They stole some things but were caught. I could use this as an example, but I don’t knowing that this was an unfortunate incident. This is how has affected my life. Colin Stone August 24, 2008 In The Secret Life of Bees, Lily Owens, the main character, is impacted in many ways throughout the novel. The three main topics of the book are family, faith, and race. She’s impacted with them all, but the one topic that particularly stands out throughout the novel is family. In Secret Life of Bees, Lily Owens begins as a teenage with lots of insecurities. She is treated badly by her peers and father, and has only one true friend. That one true friend sadly happens to be her black maid, Rosaleen. Rosaleen is the only person Lily can talk to and share her secrets with. Earlier in the novel we find out that Lily has a past that includes a traumatic family. At a very young age, Lily ily shot her mother. Her father, T. Ray, blames Lily for the, and treats her horribly for it. After spilling juice on some very racist white men, Rosaleen is arrested. Lily, for being associated with Rosaleen, is arrested too. Lily however is bailed out, but Rosaleen is forced to stay. When Lily is forced with the idea of losing her one friend, she rescues Rosaleen and together they run away to a place called Tiburon, S.C. Lily obviously loves Rosaleen a whole run away and start over for her. Once in Tiburon, S.C. Lily meets a black lady named August Boatwright, who becomes Lily’s mother figure. Family is something that Lily was not very familiar with, so it meant a her when August and her sisters took Lily and Rosaleen in to live with them. Lily had been led to the people she was meant to be with, and in the end it all worked out to her favor. Faith and family are the most important things in my life. Race isn’t something I’ve had do deal with in my life, but faith and family I have. I struggle more with my faith rather than I do my family, so I can somewhat relate with Lily in the faith category. It’s not something that comes easily, but is something that needs to be worked on constantly. When Lily finally understands the concept of faith and touches the black Mary’s heart is like when the light bulb went off in my head on what faith really is. I learned that this past summer at Kamp and it has truly changed my life. I mean I’ve always known that faith is important but I never knew how much it could do for my life. It’s the best feeling ever to know that there is someone always there for you no matter what happens, and that as long as you have Him, your covered, you don’t need anything else. Faith is a beautiful wonderful thing that I don’t know how I ever lived with out it. Sydney McIntyre 8/24/08 (: In the novel //Black Boy,// Richard Wright, is a young African-American growing up in the South around the 1920’s. Since Richard lives in the South race is a major issue in his life. Throughout his entire life Richard did not have the same opportunities that the whites had which held him back from reaching his potential in his learning and in job opportunities. Richard was a very bright child, but never learned to his full potential because he didn’t receive the schooling that white students did. Richard once was given a fair chance in work by a northern man in the optical company, but his white co-workers never let him learn the trade and soon ran him out of the business. Richard later was given another chance to work in a different optical company, but only to help wash the lenses. In this job his boss tried to instigate a fight between Richard and another black boy who worked across the street.Which made Richard feel very afraid and uncomfortable. Richard was treated poorly in all of his jobs just because he was black. Richard worked harder and acted like he was happy to try to earn more money and be treated fair. Since the white employers continued to treat him unfair he then started to steal so he could get enough money to move. Richard only started to steal because he was not given a fair chance and wanted to go to a place where he could live with out.

Also in the novel, Richard’s family tried to introduce him to the Christian faith in a very aggressive way. In many cases it seemed like Richards grandmother or Aunt Addie would try to beat the faith into Richard. Since they tried to force God into Richard’s life he was very much against the church. This impacted Richards life greatly because of the that he had for Christianity which was caused from his family forcing him to pray and not do anything that was against God. Since Richard had a strong for the Church he never had a relationship with God. This was all caused by his family trying to force it into him instead of him finding God on his own.Richard became unaccepted from his family and community because of Richards dislike of the Church and of Christianity. Richard felt alone many times because his family and people in his community did not treat him the same way because of his lack of faith. Richards views of God after the way his family tried to introduce it him affected him the rest of his life. Patrick Heslin 8/24/08

Racism and family issues are the two major themes of Black Boy. affects Richard from a very young age. He is not allowed to associate with the young white boys and is not allowed to go anywhere he pleases. then touches his life in a more dramatic way when he begins working. Richard work for a non-prejudice, Northern, man by the name of Mr. Crane at an optical factory; where he enjoys his job very much. Unfortunately Richard quits this job because two white coworkers, Pease and Reynolds, harass him to the point where he can no longer take it. Richard did not understand the Jim Crow south, and right when he thought he did something would happen. For example one day he is working hard for his white boss delivery orders when a car full of white young men pull up along side him. They offer him a ride and Richard politely hops on the back of the car. He was so glad that he finally seen an act of kindness from a white man. Then before he realizes hit he is being smacked in the face with a bottle for not saying “no sir”. Richard doesn’t believe he should have to respond in such a way because the boys that gave him a ride were not superior to him. The whites that surrounded Richard all made them selves superior to him simply because of the color of his skin. Upon moving to Memphis he meets a young black man by the name of Shorty. Shorty tries to explain to Richard that the only way to survive was to allow the whites to do as they pleased with him. He was disgusted by this idea but he soon realizes that he cannot avoid the problem that is in the south, because it was not just an issue but also a part of American culture. shaped the way Richard acted, thought, and spoke throughout the novel. The other accounts of Richard’s life in Black Boy are about his family life. The story behind his family would not be found in a fairy tale book. His father was a selfish, working man who resented Richard. Richard returned the dislike back to father and displayed this when he killed a kitten even though he knew his father was only joking. His father then left the family because he could not afford to support them. Richard, his brother Leon, and his mother then moved around so that she could find work. Richard wasn’t able to begin schooling on time and became an angry child because of all the moving. His family then moved into Richard’s grandmother’s house. Here he was beaten and persecuted for trivial things such as writing and wanting to work. He was really d though because he refused to join the church. Who could blame him though? Every example of religion in his home pointed to angry, poor, people. He then moved to Memphis when he could o longer bare his life at home. Richard’s rough upbringing influenced many aspects of his life. Connor Breslin 24 August 2008 In the story //Black Boy,// Richard is faced with with important decisions to make about his family, race and faith. His family, having a do with his faith, treated Richard badly and unlovingly. Only his mom was nice to him. Aunt Addie especially disliked Richard for reasons unknown. His family would often try to beat him for crimes that he didnt know were crimes at the time. An example was when Aunt Addie beat Richard for eating in class when he didnt. Since Richard's family was so religious, he didn't want to be close to God. He disliked his family's company so much that he wanted to rebel against them. Richard never grew close to God in part one of //Black Boy.// He always beleived in God but never thought of Him much because God tied Richard to his family. Race was also a big part of Richard's early life because his color disabled him from learning a lot about life. An example was when he was at the optical company and the other employees didn't let him learn anything. Because of his color, Richard was actually discouraged from education. He threw the discourage aside and became very successful in school. He found that sometimes people shouldn't go with the crowd and instead go with what they want in life. What he wanted was to move to the north and become successful. Thats exactly what Richard did. My family life is the exact opposite of Richard's. My family isn't very religeous and for the most part, they don't try to control my life in any way. Even though they aren't pushing for religeon, I still love God and have found Jesus. Sometimes when a person is forced to do something, it pushes the person away from it. That is what happened to Richard and didn't happen to me. By my dad leaving me to be independent, I have learned how to manage my own life and learn responsibility. Richard was also left to be independent by his family, but his family created too many rules for him. Because he had so many rules, he was encouraged to break all of them. My dad doesn't have rules spelled out, he just expects me to do what is right in situations. Because I have no set rules, I'm not encouraged to break them and I don't ever get in trouble. Richard's family should've been more open with him and his individuality.** Zack Rindik 24 August 2008

In the book Black Boy, Richard constantly struggles his faith, and family. These two subjects intertwine. Richard’s father left when Richard was just young boy. This left his mother, brother, and him to try to survive on their own. Since his father left, Richard and his family did not have much money to get enough food and the necessary supplies for school. Richard would only eat two meals a day, breakfast and dinner; so at school the other students would wonder why he didn’t eat, but he would say he wasn’t hungry. Richard’s mother was hardly ever home because of the many jobs that she worked. Since nobody was watching over Richard, he became a drunk at an early age. Also Richard was enrolled in an orphanage for two weeks because the absence of his parents. Visiting aunts and uncles was common for Richard too, and at one point his brother moved to the north with one of his aunts. But Richard’s mother was working so hard that she had a stroke, so he decided to live closer to her while she was at his grandmother’s house. When finding out that a boy had died in the bed Richard slept in at his uncle’s house, Richard moved to his strict Grandmother’s house. For a long time Richard lived there even though he did not like it. At the house his Grandmother and his one aunt, Aunt Addie, tried to force Richard to become a Christian and except Jesus and believe in God, but all of this made Richard draw away from his family. His Grandmother made him pray everyday for long periods of time, where Richard would try to pray but usually wonder off. Since Richard did not understand and believe God, it made his family him even more. This included his grandma saying that he was to her, and uncalled for beatings. Richard would sometimes deserve to be beaten but other times not. Like when he goes to the Seventh Day Adventist School where Aunt Addie teaches she blames him for dropping nutshells on the floor and beats him right in the middle of class. She also tries to beat him at home but Richard tries to fight back with a kitchen knife. Richard stands up for himself again when one of his uncles thinks that he told him the time with a sassy attitude, so he prepares himself to fight his uncle with razorblades. Throughout the book Richard feels out of place at all of his homes, and the church, because of this Richard doesn’t have many friends and he also gets beaten for no reason. Since Richard was extremely misguided, he struggles deeply with his family and faith. Ryan McClanahan 24 August 2008

In the book, Black Boy, Richard Wright deals with at work and around the towns he lives in. He dealt with at work when his co workers, Pease and Reynolds, did not like him at all. He was new to the job, and they would not tell him how to do his job. They would always tell him that working the machines was "white mans work". One day Reynolds tells him he can now refer to his co worker as Pease rather than "Mr. Pease". He realized that this is a trick, so he doesnt even bother with playing along with Reynolds' plan. He quits the job because he feels like he can get nowhere in life working there. He deals with in his town in a couple of ways. One is when his uncle Hoskins gets ed by some white men. The white men say that they will kill all of Hoskins' family if they dont leave town. Due to this threat they are on the run and go to Jackson, Mississippi, where Richard's grandmother lives. After a while, while in Arkansas, the neighborhood boys start having a war of their own. They start acting like gangs of their races. The races are just black and white. The have fights with anything they can get their hands on including glass bottles, pieces of wood, rocks, and pieces of metal. Richard had faith forced on him throughout his childhood. He had most of the pressure from his grandmother and his aunt Addie. His Aunt Addie was his teacher at his sunday school for a short time. One day, Richard says to his grandmother that if he sees an angel, he will convert to the ways of the Lord and pray every day, but up to this point he had not seen an angel. He thinks that this is a foolproof plan and it will get his grandmother to stop bugging him about religion. Granny goes and lies to many of the church elders that says that Richard he had seen and angel. This shows how desperate granny is to get Richard into faith, and added more difficulty in his life. Richard succumbs to the pressure and goes to a revival at the Methodist church that his mother and grandmother attend. He gets revived and then later tells his friends that he really didn't feel changed at all.

Nick Klinect 8 - 24- 08

In the Book, Black Boy, Richard Wright experiences a lot of problematic situations. Perhaps the most obvious of all was. He was often forced out of jobs by white people. While working for a white family, it was time for a meal and the white family had a plethora of different delectable food items, but the family gave Richard old, disgusting molasses. Another incident of pure between the races was when he was working in the optical factory and his life was threatened by two of his white co-workers. He left the job and eventually moved to Memphis where his boss lied to him and the other black boy holding the same position in another factory. The boss tried to make them first kill each other, and then forced them to box each other for money. It was a terrible thing to do in the first place, but to make it even worse he did it for entertainment. All of these circumstances were prime examples of the and hatred between blacks and whites. The other unhealthy situation Richard ran into was his family life. He was often punished and beaten for reasons nobody can quite explain. Usually losing a parent can be the hardest time during a childhood, but after Richard’s father left it only went downhill from there. He was often moving back and forth from town to town just for his mom to sustain a job. Her continuous need for a job led to a major lack of food. Richard grew up in constant hunger, and never had enough money to provide for himself. When he asked his grandmother if he could get a job, she refused to allow him and it only made their relationship worse. Finally she let him get one, and he made enough money through the job and stealing tickets that he was able to move to Memphis and continue to pursue his goal of moving to the North. When he received sufficient income, he still moved his family to the North with him. So after all the beatings and unnecessary punishments, he still had the love for his family to move them to a much safer environment. Through tough love … extremely tough love, Richard’s family transformed him from a stubborn boy to a very thoughtful man. -  Justin Stevens 24 August 2008 In Richard Wright’s autobiography, //Black Boy,// the issue of race dramatically affects Richard’s view of the world around him. Throughout his lifetime//,// Richard was frequently confronted with the brutal subject matter of race in the old south. Due to the fact that Richard had been born and raised in black neighborhoods across the southeast, Richard was temporarily sheltered from the issue of race and racial tension. Although Richard was sheltered as a young child, this would soon change considerably. Once Richard became old enough to go out on his own, he quickly noticed the brutal nature of whites. Although they were often brutal towards blacks, Richard would often find it interesting to observe their behaviors in the local saloon. Even though Richard often observed the behavior of the whites, he had not yet had an up close and personal confrontation with the opposite race. Some of Richard’s first racial confrontations occurred as he roamed the streets with the local gang. Although he was often discriminated against, Richard often did the same to whites. Even though this is true, Richard wouldn’t dare to oppose whites in the absence of his gang. Other racial confrontations would often occur in the work force. One of the most severe racial conflicts that Richard endured occurred at his job in the optical shop. One day at work when the boss was gone, Richard was beaten and threatened by his coworkers Mr. Pease and Reynolds. Due to this commotion with his coworkers, Richard left his job at the optical shop. Another terrible experience with whites occurred in Memphis at yet another optical store. This experience occurred when Richard’s bosses told him that Harrison, his friend, wanted to kill him. Although this was not the true case, Richards colleagues were set out on a mission to start a brawl between Richard and Harrison. After a short amount of time, Richard and Harrison caught on to the tactics of the whites that supervised Richard at the optical store. Although they agreed to keep quiet about their inside information, they agreed to fight each other for five dollars each. The original intention of Richard and Harrison was to fake the fight and pretend to be hurt. Even though this was the plan, they realized that they had no chance of pulling off this extreme task without anyone catching on. Since their original plan failed, Richard and Harrison were forced to fight for real. After the fight concluded, the whites had successfully torn apart the relationship between Richard and Harrison. Lastly, an example of race in the old south occurred when Richard graduated the 9th grade. This occurred when Richard, as the valedictorian, wrote a speech for his graduation ceremony. Although he wrote his own speech, Richard’s principle tried to make him read a different speech that was geared to please the white audience. This shows that whites were considered at a higher level that blacks in that day and age. Even though I now live in the same region of the United States as Richard did, I have not personally experienced any major acts of. Although this is true, there are many subtle reminders of the previous in the south. For example, many people continue to display the confederate flag which can often be regarded as a ful and ignorant gesture. Also, I have heard abundant racial comments and sayings. Even though there are many little acts of throughout our society, I believe that the issue has much faded since the early to mid nineteen hundreds. Zach Day- 24 August 2008