The novel "Black Boy," written by Richard Wright takes you back in the deep
south of Jackson, Mississippi where whites attempted to tame into submission blacks by
hard discipline.It seemed that the more Richard had gained in life, the more he was hurt.
Richard was alienated from his environment, even though he tried to distance himself
from the prejudice all around him, the white people still tried to turn him into the
stereotypical southern black person.Richard was always a rebel, from his boyhood to his
older teenage years.From the beginning he would not subdue below the white man
himself like the other black people around him did.The white people around him knew
that he was different from other black men.The people were scared because he
challenged the system that they had created for themselves as the super power.They
feared Richard, and some of the white people felt it necessary to act out their racist
feelings to order to cover up their fear.
Their were many events in Richard Wright's life which may have shaped his
philosophy of his life.In the novel, the principal at Richard's school had asked Richard
to give a speech to a large audience of white and black students,Richard refused to read
the principal's prepared speech.By reading the principal's speech, Richard was saying
what the white power wanted him to say and to Richard this would be giving in to the
thing he hated so much.Richard was willing to leave school without a diploma instead
of this.White people alienated Richard from his environment because he did not accept
the way of life that other black people did.This even that occurred in his life, shaped his
philosophy on life, extremely, this told people that he would have his mind set on one
thing and concentrate on that, to achieve his goal, in other words he had a hard head and
no one could persuade or change his mind o…