Writing Resources
Racism As a boy Richard sees that some people have lighter skin and other people darker skin But he only understands what these distinctions mean culturally and politically after observing the bigotry of whites and the fear with which many black families live Meaning Black Boy shows in brutal detail the consequences of Southern racism and demonstrates that racial distinctions are not only inherent or biological but are also products of a society that is economically and political unequal Poverty Richard s physical inabilities and the privations of his life in Mississippi Arkansas and Tennessee Many characters in the story also suffer because African American families in the white dominated South didn t have access to proper food medicine and other life necessities Religion Christianity is the main religious system of the American South at the time of Richard s childhood Many African Americans in Mississippi seem to place their entire faith and hope for salvation in the Christian church But Richard can t believe in God and his struggles against religious authority contribute to his desire to leave the South Man vs Society the efforts of one man to chart his own path to realize his potential in a world that sometimes seems impossible to navigate Richard develops within and pushes against the constraints and rules of Southern society Richard struggles against white oppression against black expectations for normal behavior and against feelings of his own rootlessness Symbols of Black Boy Books Books symbolize an imaginative escape for Richard as he lives in grinding poverty and among terrible racial suppression and violence
