Black Boy Chapter 17-18

While Richard is in the communist party he learns the voice he has and that other people have. He starts to realize the true power of words. Before, he used his words to display emotion but now he starts to learn that his words can draw people into a cause. This is when he truly learns the power of someone's voice and the voice of the communist power in general. I think this plays into the question we're meant to answer. I think one voice can move a crowd into action. All it takes is one person to spark an idea. Once an idea has been thought up and that person speaks it if enough people hear it and like the idea then they will start to follow it. Then they will start talking about it and more and more people will join into the idea. Eventually all it would take is the original idea-man to tell all of his followers what to do and more then likely they will do it. It is as simple as that for one person to move a group of people.

Black Boy Chapter 16

In this chapter Wright speaks out against the election of this time. He takes a ballet and writes 'I protest this fraud' in big capital letters. Richard is in the communist party now. He's also in a club of writers and painters. Richard follows the group's decisions on everything and this is why he wrote that stuff on the ballet. I think the reason that Wright is in the group is to find a place to fit in. Many people of this time period joined social movements for the same reason. Wright wrote that on the ballet in order to go along with his group and I completely understand that. Like I said, I understand why he did it but at the same time that's not really something I though Wright would do. It bothered him when he had to conform and go along with the horrible jobs but he's willing to do this.

Black Boy Chapter 15

I'm writing about the third parenthetical passage on page 265. When I read this, it didn't sound like something someone would say if they were to experience it. I read it and it sounded like someone had observed situations and then written them down like a historian. That's just how I felt...it was kind of weird to read these and think that Richard had gone through so much and ended up writing as an observer rather then the person who had actually gone through it.

Black Boy Chapter 12-14

In the end of chapter 14 Wright is reflecting on leaving the South and getting to Chicago. He starts talking about how he was born in the south and after working extremely hard and experiencing so much in life he made it to the North. He talks about how he was born in the South and how horrible the South is for a black man to live. Throughout the first part of this book, he goes through more then a lot of people go through in their entire life. He says one line in the ending paragraph that represents his experience. "This was the culture from which I sprang. This was the terror from which I fled." The first part simply explains how he was born in the South and what he had to deal with. The second part is what I said at the beginning...him reflecting on leaving the South. The terror for Richard is everything bad he had to go through. His father leaving, his mother's stroke, the countless accounts of racism and violence he had to experience. Everything built up can be expressed in that one word, 'Terror.'

Black Boy Chapter 10-11

Whenever Richard got a job, he would have to work under racist white storeowners. The problem with this is that Richard absolutely hates the idea of being inferior to anyone, especially white people. Richard needs to be subservient to his employers in order to keep jobs and get by. Like I said before, RIchard hates this idea, which is why he gets fired numerous times. I think in Wright's situation subservience is extremely necessary. I think subservience is necessary within reason, though. I feel that the white employers of this time took subservience way too far. Obviously since they are employers they need to crack down on people like Richard who work for them but they would find any excuse to fire them just because they were black. Richard needs to learn to give into his employers but the employers need to realize that Richard is human and he is going to make mistakes.

Black Boy Chapter 9

When Griggs says the line "Learn to live in the South" he is telling Richard to stop apposing everyone. Griggs is giving Wright a warning by saying this. I feel like if you live in the south in this time period and you act out like Wright does then something bad is bound to happen to you. To me Griggs saying this could be associated straight back to Wright's speech problem in the previous chapters. Wright didn't like what happened and refused to deliver the speech. It could've been a lot worse for Wright and he got lucky that no one freaked out on him over refusing to do the speech.

Black Boy Chapter 7-8

When Richard graduates from school he earns the spot of Valedictorian. When this happens he is asked by his teacher to deliver a speech at the ceremony. After Richard prepares this speech he goes to deliver it. Then the principle walks up and hands him a speech that has already been prepared for him. Wright is completely shocked...he has just put the time in to write a speech and they give him one. The reason they made a speech for him is because they're afraid of what he might say in front of the white audience members. When the principle gives him the speech Wright gets really mad and tells him he's not going to give his speech. I think he is extremely justified in doing what he did. He's obviously a good student or else he wouldn't have the oppurtunity to deliver a speech and he has obviously worked hard. It's so crappy that they would do that to him. I still don't understand what the point of asking him to write a speech was if they were just going to give him one pre-written.

Black Boy Chapter 6

One part of this chapter that really sticks out is when Uncle John and Richard have a fight. In previous chapters, mainly in the beginning, when there was a problem with Richard he was beaten and that was the end of it. When Richard does something here and Uncle Tom tries to do something to him RIchard freaks out and pulls knives on his uncle. Wright gets really mad at Uncle Tom and tries to defend himself with force because he feels his Uncle isn't really family. Wright has it in his head that only immediate family is allowed to beat the kids. It is this reasoning why Ricahrd gets confused when he sees the white guy beating the black boy. He automatically assumed the black boy was the white man's son...when he finds out differently Richard gets really mad.

Black Boy Chapter 4-5

In these chapters Wright spends a lot of time reading and writing. He loves literature obviously concidering he wrote this book. There is one part of chapter five where he reads one of his stories to his neighbor. He gets a huge rush when reading his story. The entire time he reads it the neighborgirl became more and more confused. Then at the end of the of the story she had a dumbstruck look on her face. He loved to see that. He gets a huge rush off of her reaction. Wright gets such a joy out of sharing his writing with his neighbor and I think it is because he made her think.