Black People In Richard Wright's Black Boy

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The characters in the book Black Boy mainly consist of black people, subsequently the interpretation of the portrayal becomes important. It’s easy to claim that white people have a negative portrayal in this book because Richard’s only interaction with them is with them oppressing and discriminating against him. The depiction of black people is much more complex simply because they aren’t just “black people” he’s interacting with its his family, friends, neighbors, etc. Nonetheless the overall portrayal of black people is negative because we’re seeing them through Richard’s eyes and he himself views them in a poor light. Richard’s negative depiction of black people starts with his family. He constantly portrays them as abusive close to every family member abused him either physically or verbally; they consistently beat him, threatened him, and told him he’s bad or foolish and the like. They also try to change him into being someone he's not by forcing him to assimilate to their religions …show more content…
In an all encompassing manner he remarks: “I used to mull over the strange absence of real kindness in Negroes… how shallow was even our despair” he makes a strong claim against the quality of black culture. Later he specifically shows his distaste of Bess, her mother, and Shorty. He dislikes Bess because of her naivety and her and her mother’s desperation for her to be married. He even ponders her mental state: “I wondered if she were demented” (213). On top of this, he is disgusted by Shorty feeling only, “disgust and loathing” towards him because of the way he acts like a fool and degrades around white people all the while confirming stereotypes in the eyes of the white men (220). These actions by Shorty depict him as a kind of Uncle Tom not unlike Griggs. The negative depiction of black people is not a familial issue but the race at
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