Richard Wright

February 19, 2015

           

The Eye Opening Readings of Richard Wright

            In this mind changing personal essay by Richard Wright (1945) from Connections Book, English 1101, Richard Wright explains that how trips to the library became eye opening experience for him, changed his way of thinking, and allowed him to want a better life for himself.   Richard Wright expressed an era of time when a black individual was treated less than human and reading was prohibited by blacks.  He writes about how he would have to degrade himself in order to remain humble after gaining knowledge from the books he read.   Richard Wright wrote this essay to inform: black males like himself, white males with hate of other races, and the younger generations of future times that reading is power. 

            Richard Wright provides an informative essay which describes the early 19th Century era when black the Jim Crow laws in the south was highly expressed.  The senseless killing of blacks, slavery, and lynching’s were at an all time high.  The essay explains how Richard Wright acquired the desire to read by reading an article in the news paper of H I Mencken, a white author, hated by other whites.  He wanted to know how a white man could be hated as much by other whites as a black man.  This was the flame which sparked a burning desire to read; he had to read H I Mencken book.  With his job giving him access to the library and sizing up his coworkers, he acquired a library card from a co-worker, by using the co-worker’s wife name, and began checking out books to read.  The words of HI Mencken was gas to the fire, Richard Wright had never read such style, clear, clean and fighting with words.  He stated that these words were used like a weapon.  His eyes was seeing more clearly now within the world he lived.  The more he read, the more obsessed he became to want to read more books.  He knew he had to change his living environment or die.

            Richard Wright’s thoughts, now after reading books, gaining knowledge and getting a better understanding of how the blacks were treated in the south opposed to the north, he had no other option but to impose his knowledge on his family and set plans to save money to pursue a better life in the northern states.