Tragic Moments In Black Boy

Tragic moments can be very impactful on someone and even define the rest of their entire life. In Richard Wright’s memoir, Black Boy, Richard's father abandons Richard and his family. While taking care of both Richard and his brother by herself, Richard’s mom gets ill and becomes paralyzed. This leaves Richard to have to start taking care of himself at only ten years old, even requiring him to get a job. When Richard graduates school, he goes straight to making enough money to go North and take his mother with him. When Richard’s mom is paralyzed due to her illness, it defines Richard’s life by forcing him to have responsibility and perseverance.

Richard is forced to have responsibility due to his mother getting ill and becoming paralyzed.

After his mother is paralyzed Richard must persevere through many hardships and struggles. In order to survive and support himself, Richard is forced to get a grueling job as a waterboy that has a lot of physical labor. Doing a variety of difficult tasks for his job he “[struggles] with the pail,” but he “stuck it out, reeling at some times from hunger” (162). Richard is required to get a job due to his mother’s condition and has to take whatever job he can get. Even though Richard was struggling and starving with the grueling work he was given he still persevered through it. The hardships Richard faced during his job as a waterboy taught him how to persevere no matter how rough it may seem. After Richard graduates from school and starts making money to go North, two white men at his job force him to quit. This made Richard feel his “personality was numb” and was “reduced to a lumpish, loose, dissolved state,” even making him feel like a “non-man” (194). Although he feels defeated, Richard perseveres and still ends up getting yet another job to continue making money to travel northward. He doesn’t let the injustice he faced keep him down and stop him from reaching his goal. Along with himself, Richard tries to earn enough money to bring his mother with him as well, adding more to his hardships. Through having to struggle with harsh work conditions and being treated like something less than human Richard learns to persevere despite his