Thaddeus The Metamorphosis Of Richard Wright's Black Boy

In Janice Thaddeus’ “The Metamorphosis of Richard Wright’s Black Boy”, she believes that there are two types of autobiographies, defined and open. A defined autobiography is when a writer presents his life as a finished product. As an example of a defined autobiography, Thaddeus references Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass to show how he moves from frugality to self-discovery. A writer of an open autobiography searches for himself and does not tell, so thereby, the tone of a defined and an open autobiography are completely different. Thaddeus argues that Wright’s novel shifts and considers that Wright needs to write an open autobiography and should not be changed to a defined autobiography. Thaddeus attempts to prove that Richard

I thought the article would discuss the metamorphosis in the novel rather it discusses the metamorphosis of the development of the novel such as how the novel gained its name and how certain passages were omitted and added. However, as Thaddeus discusses these things, it is unclear and confusing. She begins in the first couple of passages focusing on light and dark being metaphoric for black and white. Again, this causes one to think that she will focus on the plot and structure of the novel. To continue, Thaddeus has poor transitioning in the article and complicates the understanding more. For example, she states a situation in “Black Boy” and tries to compare or contrast that particular situation to another novel, but it causes confusion. In fact, Thaddeus fails to prove metamorphosis in “Black Boy” by discussing the repeated name changes of the novel. The novel first gains the name “American Hunger”, then “Southern Night”, “Black Hunger” and last it is given the name “Black Boy.” What significance this has to “Black Boy”, I have yet to find out. Remembering that Thaddeus purpose of the article is to prove that “Black Boy” goes through a metamorphosis from open to defined, however, it is never addressed throughout the article. Thaddeus only seems to focus on her claim in her last paragraph when she