Richard Wright Eric Hansen January 8, 2013

Life of Richard Wright, 1 Born September 4, 1908 Brought up to be religious, but resisted Raised by several relatives, having to continuously move after his mother suffered a traumatic injury Due to reaction to religion, he received little education as a child

Life of Richard Wright, 2 Worked as an errand boy, during which time he began checking out books from the library (despite laws against it) Read the works of experimentalists and modernists Eventually moved to Chicago, where he found conditions of African Americans to be similar to that in the South

Life of Richard Wright, 3 In Chicago, he joined the communist party Once disagreed with the party due to their attempts to control his literary freedom Ended all ties following failure of party to fight against discriminatory measures of the Army in WWII Wrote extensively and spent the remaining years of his life in Europe, while travelling and writing

Life of Richard Wright, 4 Wrote the prize-winning Uncle Tom’s Children Wrote the record-breaking (in sales) Native Son Wrote the Marxism-inspired Twelve Million Black Voices Wrote the widely-hailed Black Boy, an autobiography Died November 28, 1960 Final years often criticized due to his separation with the African American community while still writing of the African American Community

Blueprint for Negro Writing, 1 Role of negro writing: ornamental “achievement” of African Americans & pleading voice of African Americans in a white America Despite the positive actions of African Americans, African American writing has fallen behind in reporting African American ventures to end the struggle African American writing has not preserved the nature of African Americans, but is instead a reflectance on a counterculture of the African American community. Rather, folklore has preserved the African American nationalism. Writers ought to address the national struggle of the African American, which has developed due to forced African American ways of life (African American media, entertainment, careers, culture, etc.). The Basis and Meaning of Nationalism in Negro Writing: African American writers must accept the African American nationalism in order to encourage its change.

Blueprint for Negro Writing, 2 African American writers must “create values by which his race is to struggle, live and die.” Pg The Problem of Perspective: the facts in regard to African American history plays a large role in the reality and everyday perspective of an African American Writers must acknowledge the entire history of African Americans and act accordingly—the present is not sufficient to develop African American themes. There must be a relationship between artistic image and reality. When writers work together, the general consciousness of all African Americans grows.

Blueprint for Negro Writing, 3 Wright criticized the African American writer openly Believed that African American writers were ineffective and has distanced themselves from the African American community Seemed to believe that more basic forms of media, such as folklore, were superior to that of the evolved African American writing of his time

Bright Morning Star, 1 Old widow, a former slave, has two boys that are both involved in communism. One has been captured by police, while the other is preparing for a communist meeting. Phonetic spelling and stylized dialogue Sheriff finds out about communist meeting and surrounds the house the day prior to the meeting Widow’s free son charged with warning everyone of problem Free son does not believe it was one of the white members of the organization, necessarily. Quote: “ “It wuznt nona our folks,” she said again … “Our folks! Ma, who in Gawds name is our folks?” “

Bright Morning Star, 2 Sheriff and his men show up at widow’s house. She confronts them as they steal her food and drink and a verbal confrontation ensues. She is then beat by the Sheriff until a friend, Booker, awakens her. From him, she finds out that her free son has been caught. In a daze, she reveals information about the party to Booker. Realizing her mistake, the widow goes to find her boy, and does so. Before leaving, she conceals her son’s pistol, which she then goes on to use to kill Booker. As a result of her crime, both her and her son are shot dead, but she does not give in, even after being shot. Shows the struggle of African Americans, the persecution they faced, and their resilience despite facing certain defeat

Bright Morning Star, 3 Shows the strong-willed nature of the African American Despite Marxist-inspired notions, the work ultimately read as a story of selflessness in the face of unwavering danger Represented a candid image into the life of a politically-active African American May have been sought to illustrate the power of African Americans and to empower the community in order to push Marxism forward as a popular political philosophy

Theme: Audience Appeared to simultaneously address both Caucasians and African Americans Though Marxist ideology was constantly visible in Wright’s works, he did well to not alienate his non-Marxist audience minimally From Blueprint for Negro Writing, it is clear that he questioned to whom he ought to address works to I believe that he attempted to dodge the decision in regard to whether to direct African Americans in their struggle or to simply plead for change

Theme: Vernacular Used stylized language in dialogue Sought to embody the time period by using relevant vernacular In doing so, he was able to popularize work to Caucasians Was able to accurately capture the portrait of African Americans throughout time Spoke of the continuous struggle of African Americans throughout time, which was often best illustrated by stylized, old language

Additional Analysis To Wright, the African American struggle included the acknowledgement of what the struggle was, how it should be treated, written about, and understood. Wright attempted to combat what might have been the natural effects of the African American struggle had it not been reconsidered and revamped to his liking (under the assumption that the advice that he provided was actually followed).

Works Cited Norton Anthology of African American Literature Hand-out (author)