White Men Cause Richard example essay topic

Writers such as Richard Wright, Ralph Waldo Ellison, and Flannery O'Connor do an excellent job conceiving characters who "had discovered years before that they were [not] white... and that all freedom and triumph was forbidden to them, they had set about creating something else to be", (as written by Toni Morrison in Sula). These characters encounter situations dealing with racial repression and use these experiences as support for stronger wills. Richard Wright's excerpt from his book Black Boy introduces him as a young man, working in an optical factory. He says that, "It had been a routine day, a day more or less like the other days I had spent on the job... I was at peace with the world, that is, at peace in the only way in which a black boy in the South can be at peace with a world of white men", (1317). Richard has to carry himself in a very distinct and disciplined manner for the sake of keeping his job under a white employer.

His definition of "peace" was different from the way we see it today because Richard was looking for peace of mind. So as to not be hassled in the workplace because he was black, Richard would answer to his boss, Mr. Olin, with "false heartiness, falling quickly into that pattern, a pattern into which I could now slide easily" (1317). Richard was not out to prove his intelligence to Mr. Olin, rather he had to develop a routine for his personality along with his routine for work. It became second nature to be "good" in front of the white workers; he had no choice. Wright adds that he had a "typical" relationship with his boss that Negroes had with Southern whites. Mr. Olin "gave me orders and I said, 'Yes, sir,' and obeyed them...

I knew that all white men fancied themselves as friends of niggers" (1317). When Mr. Olin tells Richard that another black worker named Harrison is out to get him, it worries Richard so much because he is in a predicament: does he trust his white boss or does he trust the word of a fellow Negro? Following his heart, Richard "would ignore the warning of the white man and talk face to face with a boy of [his] own color" (1319). Knowing that the white men did not always have the best intentions when it came to the black employees, Richard tries his best to deter any altercations with Harrison. He opposes the idea of a fight even when the white men try to trick him into thinking that Harrison wants to hurt him. He is wary and intelligent enough not to fall for the ploy for Richard says, "I don't want to fight for white men.

I'm no dog or rooster" (1321). The ideas the employers plant into the minds of Richard and Harrison fester, throwing each other's confidence in each other and themselves off balance. Richard tells us, "We were toying with the idea of death for no reason that stemmed from our own lives, but because the men who ruled us had thrust the idea into our minds" (1321). Perhaps in these words from their employers, the fear of unemployment, or even worse, death at the hands of these white men cause Richard to fight that afternoon. He tried to break cultural standards of the white man by constantly refusing to fight Harrison, but gave up for a moment in time by going through with it anyway.

In fighting for the white men, Richard Wright felt he had "done something unclean for which [he] could not properly atone" (1323). Nonetheless, I see this fight as Wright's attempt and personal struggle to create a new cultural standard in a white man's workplace. Albeit a different setting, Ralph Waldo Ellison's excerpt from his book Invisible Man also focuses on a "staged" fight between young black males. It begins with the narrator saying that he was not ashamed of his grandparents for being slaves, but he was only ashamed of himself for being ashamed at one time (1519).

His grandfather, shortly before his death, gives the narrator a reality check about the way he will need to live his life as a black man. His grandfather advises him", 'Son, after I'm gone I want you to keep up the good fight... Live with your head in the lion's mouth. I want you to overcome 'em with yeses, undermine 'em with grins... let 'em swollen you till they vomit or bust wide open... Learn it to the younguns' " (1519). The narrator was receiving proper "life training" from an experienced Negro to resist the inevitable racial repression that would meet him soon in life.

He was given advice by this wise man to break stereotypes the white man would have by beating them at their own game. Though this meant always being cautious about what he said and did and around whom, the narrator's grandfather wanted to help plant seeds of courage and hope in his maturing grandchild. This excerpt focuses on the gathering of the town's most influential white citizens held the day after the narrator's graduation. Because of his well-received speech during the ceremony, he is asked to repeat his speech at the gathering. He says, "I delivered an oration in which I showed that humility was the secret, indeed the very essence of progress. (Not that I believed this-how could I, remembering my grandfather?

-I only believed that it worked). It was a great success" (1520). The narrator formed his speech in an acquiescent way to his white audience even though he himself did not believe his own message. Unfortunately, the narrator is told that he must participate in a "battle royal" to be fought by several black boys hired for the occasion. When cloth is draped over his eyes, the excitement he comes to the gathering with quickly fades away.

Says he", 'But now I felt a sudden fit of blind terror. I was unused to darkness; it was as though I had suddenly found myself in a dark room filled with poisonous cottonmouths" (1522). This is the narrator's first encounter of being repressed literally and physically in the excerpt. I saw the blindfolding as a foreshadowing that he will fade into even more darkness and corruption later in life. Still carrying on with the fight as he is told, the narrator grows extremely upset with the last fighter named Tatlock. He explains, "I wanted to deliver my speech more than anything else in the world, because I felt that only these men could judge truly my ability, and now this stupid clown was ruining my chances" (1523).

The narrator is on a mission to prove his intelligence and worth to these important white men and he was not going to let Tatlock stop him from doing so. Sadly, the narrator accepts the prize of a brand new briefcase as an award well worth his humiliation during the fight and after a nauseating attempt to deliver his oration. After giving the narrator his new brief case, the superintendent says, "Prize it. Keep developing as you are and some day it will be filled with important papers that will help shape the destiny of your people" (1527). Even if the narrator cannot single-handedly shape the destiny of African-Americans, he most surely can shape himself. After a humbling event like this, the narrator can learn to apply his grandfather's advice of living "with his head in the lion's mouth" for life will be ready to close in on him at any minute.

On the opposite end of the racial spectrum, we are introduced to a white college student named Julian in Flannery O' Connor's short story "Everything That Rises Must Converge". Julian already knows that he is white and that he is male, and he surely grew up with the knowledge that "all freedom and triumph" was not forbidden to him. Instead, Julian is a very open-minded individual whose mother is a product of the "Old South". She takes tremendous pride in her heritage due to the fact her ancestors were people who were once very highly respected.

Julian sees his mother as a product of the past that cannot see any accept the realities of the present; he wants to break her of her "stereotyping" habits. Julian's mother constantly reassures herself by saying to Julian", 'I know who I am. ' " To which Julian retorts", 'You haven't the foggiest idea where you stand now or who you are. ' " Racism is the key point of conflict between these two characters and Julian wants to find ways for his mother to come in contact with more African-Americans because he knows it bugs her. Julian's wishes come true when a black woman and her child board the bus Julian and his mother are on.