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The Importance Of Community In Richard Wright's Big Boy Leaves Home

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In the chapter “Big Boy Leaves Home” from the book, Uncle Tom’s Children by Richard Wright, we see the use of community to bring the African Americans together in times of need. After Big Boy comes home and tells his family he shot a white man, they rely on the help of Brother Sanders, Brother Jenkins, and Elder Peters for guidance and advice. Wright uses the guidance from neighboring brothers in “Big Boy Leaves Home” to emphasize the importance of a strong African American community as a means of protection from the Whites and lynching.
Brother Sanders, Brother Jenkins, and Elder Peters show their support by helping Saul and Big Boy decide the best course of action. The close relationships in the African American community is shown by the way they call their neighbors brother. This makes the whole community like a big family and gives African Americans a sense of power from the whites. Saul considers Elder Peters, Brother Jenkins and …show more content…

Elder Peters immediately knew they had to hide Big Boy and said, “yuh-all better git this boy outta here right now” because it could “ruin” the entire community if he stays (Wright 43). They had to sacrifice their relationship with Poor Big Boy and make him leave the comfort of his home to stay alive. Elder Peters states, “theres gonna be a lynchin” if Big Boy doesn’t hop on the truck to Chicago (Wright 43). The brothers and elder acted quickly because they were dealing with a murder of an Army, white man.
Big Boy will not be close to his support system and won’t be able to live comfortably. Nevertheless, the escape had to be done because there was not another way to ensure Big Boy would be safe from the whites. The brothers standing together represents African Americans banding together to collectively save members of their community against

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