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Summary Of Richard Wright's The Rights Of The Streets Of Memphis

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As an insightful person once said “Stand up for what you believe in even if it means standing alone”. Anyone would prefer to be confident and stand up for themselves than to let someone control them like a marionette. Richard Wright, author of his autobiography “The Rights of the Streets of Memphis”, wrote this story to inspire readers and teach them to stand up for themselves just like his own mother taught him on the streets of Memphis, Tennessee. In the short story, Wright’s father has left them and now his mother is left in charge to feed her her two kids. Richard has to take the responsibility of becoming the man of the house. However, he faces the obstacle involving a gang of boys beating him down for his grocery money. His mother teaches him to defend himself to earn the right to come back into his house again. There’s a difference between defending oneself and being a coward, and Wright’s mother showed him that being a man takes great courage. …show more content…

Putting on a brave face for her kids after her husband has left her was the hardest thing Ms.Wright could do. However, a brave face doesn’t last long, as Mrs. Wright and her son were conversing, “She paused and looked at me with tears in her eyes” (114). Wright tries to make the reader picture how they would have felt in a situation like this. Now that his father is there, Richard has no choice, but become the man. His mom is going to help him realize it by asking ,“Who brings food into the house? she asked me. ‘Papa’, I said ‘He always brought food.’‘Well, your father isn’t here now,’ she said” (114). It is difficult being a single parent handling two kids, and it is Richard’s job to do what his father couldn’t. Parents will prefer to starve themselves and put their life at risk than to let their kids in

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