Reaction To Religion In Richard Wright's 'Black Boy'

Black Boy #2

In Richard Wright’s Black Boy, Wright’s reaction to religion suggests that he is an infidel and that he defies his parent’s authority. Firstly, Wright reacts to religion in a negative way. Wright expresses this when Granny and Aunt Addie try to revive his religious life “Whenever I found religion in my life I found strife, the attempt of one individual or group to rule another in the name of God” (Wright 136). This shows how Richard always finds away around religion or to somehow negatively affect Granny and Aunt Addie’s strict religious authority. This in a sense defies his identity, because he is brought up in a religious family and he defies that identity. Another example is how Wright wounds Granny’s soul by humiliating her.

Christopher is a shy young boy, with a disability and he is under his father’s authority, which disallows him to do multiple actions. During the first investigation, Christopher opens up his shell and starts to talk “I decided that I would go and ask some of the other people who lived in our street if they had seen anyone killing Wellington or whether they had seen anything strange happening in the street on Thursday night” (Haddon 34). This shows that Christopher can and will accomplish is goal even though he is overcoming one of his largest fears. Another example of Christopher overcoming adversity is the several times when he goes around his father’s authority to solve the mystery. Another example of how Christopher is coming out of his shell is the time he goes to the candy store to buy candy. After buying candy, Christopher talks to Ms. Alexandra about the killing of Wellington. These examples show that Christopher can and will overcome adversity and accomplish his goals even though overcoming his father’s authority and his multiple fears of talking and being near other