New Awareness And Connections In Harper Lee's 'Black Boy'

New Awareness and Connections

African Americans have always had a history of being discriminated against because of their color, and many literary works have depicted this struggle. “Black Boy” by Richard Wright is a nonfiction narrative that explains the hardship of a young black boy trying to beat stereotypes. Wright wants to pursue a career doing what he loves despite the push from his family to conform to the finically stable jobs blacks were expected to get. Tom Robinson in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird also faces a similar struggle when he must work long hours in the field because that was a job that was associated with blacks in the 1900’s. By reading Wright’s narrative and connecting to To Kill a Mockingbird I gained a new awareness about the lack of opportunities for black people in the 1900’s.

After reading “Black Boy” I gained a new understanding about how black people had a limited range of jobs and opportunities they could receive because of their color. In his narrative Wright explains how he discovers that

During the court case in Lee’s novel Tom Robinson is asked about where he works. Tom responds that he works in the field picking cotton and pecans year round. Tom Robinson also is a cripple with one arm shorter than the other, but even with that problem he does hard work that most people would associate with blacks. His disability would prevent him from doing the best work that can be done in the field, and he would most likely be more useful in another field of work. Like Richard Wright Tom Robinson pushed into work that is what people thought blacks in the 1900’s could do, and both people are capeable of better work than they are downgraded to do. Both of these stories demonstrate just how cruel and unjust discrimination against blacks can