Black Boy
Since the beginning of time there has been hunger. When a person thinks about hunger, the first thing that comes to their mind is food. We never think of the word hunger as having any another meaning. In Richard Wright's book entitled "Black Boy (American Hunger)", a young boy faces many different "types" of hunger. Throughout his book Wright refers to the phrase "American Hunger." I feel that the words "American Hunger", is how he refers to his hunger to be considered an American and be treated as an equal and not as an animal. Throughout Wrights life he was treated as if he were from another planet. He was always considered to be different, an outcast, and a loser. He felt that he needed to be a part of the so-called "American Culture." He wanted to be able to do what the white children did or even more. He wanted to be able to go to school, to learn, to read, have friends, have a job; but because he was an African American he could not. In Wright's book he discusses all !these hungers that he had and that is what I am going to writing my paper on. Because these experiences can be closely compared to what our class has discussed a lot. A hunger can be satisfied in many different ways.
6. Lott, Bernice. The Social Psychology of Interpersonal Discrimination. New York o 7 consistently express a same-group ethnic preference and hold negative or moderately negative attitudes towards other racial groups. (Ponterotto 29) This study leads up to the statistics that 75% of the population, to some degree, promotes the status quo, which is racial inequality. This information really makes you think about how you are going to raise your own children and whether or not you will try to steer clear of racial or ethnic slurs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Since the beginning of Richard's childhood, Richard was always 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. Which was thought of being a worthless, white mans slave and never going anywhere. However, throughout this story Richard found that he was also alienated by his own people and perhaps even more than from the white people. When researching information to compare some of the events from the book and relate them to our class wasn't really that hard. I learned a lot of interesting information that helped me to understand the book and why there is racism in the world. When Richard was a child he had no fear or conception of race. In a research done by a group of psychologist they found that "children first come to recognize their racial/ethnic background at about 3 or 4 years of age. From this time, until about the age of 7 or 8, children demonstrate increasing competence in perceiving their similarity to their own group. Children at this point can accurately categorize different groups based on perceptual cues (e.g., race, language), they can label groups consistent with adult labels, and they understand the consistency notion that race and ethnicity are unchangeable. The expressed racial/ethnic attitudes and preferences of children across age levels
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Approximate Word count = 1366
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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