black boy

A detailed Summary of black boy

In the book Black Boy, Richard's family and the white people surrounding him as a child in the South significantly influence the person that he grows up to be. Family members or co-workers in some way influence almost every important decision that Richard makes as a young adult. Although many people influence Richard, the three people that most affect his decisions, opinions, and beliefs, and have the overall greatest impact on him are his mother, grandmother, and his co-workers at the optical company. His mother influences him in many ways, the most important being that she teaches him to stand up for himself and for what he believes. She teaches him this at a very young age. As a child, she sends him to get something from the grocery store. On the way to the store neighborhood children beat him and take his money. When he comes home his mother merely gives him more money and sends him back out into the street. The children beat him twice. He comes home after the second beati!

ng thinking that he will be safe inside the house with his mother. However, his mother sends him right back out with a stick, and tells him to defend himself with it. His mother does not take any time to comfort him before sending him back out. She only te

respecting Pease, but if he denies it, he will be calling Reynolds a liar, also disrespectful. This is the most severe form of racial hatred that affects Richard directly. The entire incident extremely frightens him. On the way home from the company he feels "...that the sidewalk was unreal, that I was unreal, that the people were unreal, yet expecting somebody to demand to know what right I had to be on the streets. My wound went deep; I felt that I had been slapped out of the human race." (225) This incident convinces Richard that he must leave the South in order to survive. When Mr. Cane calls Richard into his office to tell him why he is leaving he reveals: "I'm going away," and, "I'm going to get out of the South." (228) Even though while Richard is living in the South he is treated badly and inferior, his experiences teach him many values and lessons that make him the person that he becomes. Each person that leaves any impact on Richard, both good and bad, affects the impa!

lls him "I'm going to teach you this night to stand up and fight for yourself." (19) This confuses Richard because before this she never tells him to fight. He goes out, fights back against the children, and gets to the store with his money. His mother also tells him that there is a difference between being beaten and being whipped. This comes up after an incident with a white man beating a black boy. Richard naively assumes that the man is the boy's father, which would justify the abuse. She tells him that white men do not beat black boys; they whip them, and that the man was not the boy's father. Being beaten, he associates with punishment for doing something wrong. While being whipped, is when someone hits another person f!

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or amusement. She does not go into detail on how it is different, only saying that he is too young to understand. These teachings influence him later in life because he does not let anyone hit him, unless his mother is punishing him for something. He almost never lets anyone besides his mother hit him. This is

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Approximate Word count = 1415
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English