The Effects Of Hunger In Black Boy By Richard Wright

Hunger is a unique feeling because its meaning is limitless. Although the term â€Å"hunger† is typically associated with a lack of food, it can be simply defined as having â€Å"a strong desire or craving† (â€Å"hunger†). In the novel, Black Boy, Richard Wright recalls the constant hunger pains due to living in poverty. However, Richard experienced alternative forms of hunger that pushed him to overcome adversity. Richard Wright’s success as a writer, even changed the way people looked at African Americans during the twentieth century. Without Richard’s lingering hunger, he might have succumbed to the racist regime of the South rather than controlling his own destiny. The physical hunger that Richard Wright experienced served as a reminder of his†¦show more content†¦Richard’s physical hunger was only the beginning. One literary critic agrees when he stated, â€Å"for here the themes of fear, hunger, and deprivation are related to his own development and therefore attain an immediacy and poignancy unlike that found in either Uncle Tom s Children or Native Son†(Hodges). The pain from not eating food would become almost insignificant compared to strong intellectual and emotional hungers that he would later feel. Richard’s craving for knowledge was frustrated him during his childhood, but his determination to overcome this hunger would help him achieve his dream of becoming a writer. Richard wanted to learn, but the people around him would constantly remind him of his inferior status. For instance, the white woman that Richard used to work for criticised him for writing stories. She rudely told Richard â€Å"‘you’ll never be a writer,’ and ‘Who on earth put such ideas into your nigger head’†(Wright 147). Both blacks and whites had a negative opinion of Richard’s aspirations to be a writer. John O. Hodges agrees when he stated that â€Å"since Richar d is interested in pursuing a literary career, the restrictions which his society places upon him become all the more serious† (Hodges). In the racist southern society of the early twentieth century, educational opportunities for African Americans were hard to come by. Richard’s formal education was inconsistent and when he was an adult, he could not take out books from the library on his own.Show MoreRelatedTrue Freedom Or Starvation Blues. What Does It Mean To1239 Words   |  5 PagesUnfortunately, after the Civil War, this was the kind of freedom awaiting the newly freed African Americans in the New South. In Richard Wright’s â€Å"Black Boy†, a detailed memoir of his childhood in the early twentieth century, this new type of â€Å"freedom† is subtly introduced in the beginning and thoroughly developed throughout the book. 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