Richard is hungry in different ways. He is almost always literally hungry, as in lacking food. It is constantly on his mind, and he thinks, "I began to wake up at night to find hunger standing at my bedside, staring at me gauntly" (Wright 14). However, Richard is hungry for things other than food. After learning to read, Richard often makes a pest of himself by asking incessant questions, "I soon made myself a nuisance by asking far too many questions of everybody. Every happening in the neighborhood, no matter how trivial, became my business" (Wright 23). This proves that Richard is developing a hunger for knowledge. He becomes eager to learn new things, and wants to understand the ways of life.
There are several different effects from Richard's hunger, mostly from his figurative hunger. From his physical hunger, he develops a bitterness towards the cause of his hunger, "As the days slid past the image of my father became associated with my pangs of hunger, and whenever I felt hunger I thought of him with a deep biological bitterness" (Wright 16). Because his father is neglecting the family and therefore causing them to starve, Richard feels great animosity towards the man. Richard's hunger for knowledge leads very different results, both good and bad. The good is that Richard begins to understand the problem of racism in his city, such as the newspaper sympathizing the Ku Klux Klan (Wright 132). The bad is that he grows to be rebellious with his family, disagreeing with their points of view. While Richard's grandmother is highly religious, Richard decides, "Before I had been made to go to church, I had given God's existence a sort of tacit assent, but after having seen His creatures serve Him at first hand, I had had my doubts" (Wright 114). He begins to think for himself, choosing to follow his own path rather than his family members. While it is good that he doesn't blindly follow others' leads, it does lead to tension in the family which often results in violence. Grandma, Aunt Addie, and Richard's mother all punish him when he disagrees with their ideas, and this makes Richard even more rebellious than before.
Works Cited
Wright, Richard. Black Boy. New York: Perennial Classics, 1998.
5 comments:
Nice post Anna! Though I don't think that his family's tensions are solely because of Richard. I think that his more to do with how his grandparents run the family: either you're with them, or you're against them. I think that that attitude is what causes the tension in his family.
Good analysis, Anna! I agree that the stiff discipline from Richard's family only exacerbates his rebelliousness. This conflict isn't limited to within his family, either. The entire society seems designed to squash any sort of striving or questioning, though Richard probably would still have been in trouble a bit even in a different society.
Great job! Your analysis was quite intriguing. I agree with your main ideas (hunger for food and hunger for knowledge). I think that Richard hungers understanding...he seems to want to know and comprehend WHY things happen the way they do. I agree with Evan's post too: "either you're with them, or you're against them." Richard's family has some pretty intense rules about religion and whatnot, and I think that a lot of his rebellion is caused from lack of freedom. Which encourages him even more to learn and understand the outer world. This is getting long, so nice blog response!!
Anna, I agree that Richard is hungry for food and knowledge but i do not agree with your supporting details. I don't agree that Richards hunger for knowledge made him more aware of racism i think the reason for his becoming more aware was that he was older and he understood more.
Anna,
I really enjoyed your analysis. Hunger is a key component in Richard's life physically and figuratively. I also enjoyed when you mentioned that Richard's hunger for knowledge led to his understanding of racism and the ku klux klan. All in all great post.
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