Name

Lecturer

Course

Date

American Hunger

First and foremost, it is evident that Wright was writing about the plight of the African Americans in the United States of America (USA). This is related to his real life because he is among the people who were subjected to this kind of treatment during his lifetime. After excelling in his studies, he was made a school valedictorian. However, this would not bring happiness to him because it put him into problems with the school’s white administrators (Baldwin, J., 2008). For instance, in 1923, he refused to submit the principal’s valedictory address. Even though he was doing this to coax the black administrators to support him, he was in a disagreement with all the school’s white officials. Later in September, after registering for the History, English and Mathematics courses at Lanier High School, we could not concentrate on his studies. He had to attend classes at regular intervals since he was supposed to look for menial jobs in support of his poor family. This is typical of an African American who faced a lot of challenges in their education. The ideologies put in this text reflex the racial prejudices Wright experienced during his childhood in Memphis.

Secondly, Wright reports about the challenges he faced when he was looking for a job. As he explains, he faced lot problems to be granted a job in the white dominated economy. Instead of focusing on his potentials and qualifications, they view him as a black American. This was so racial particularly when they were violently treating him. However, this brutality is related to his life in many ways. As a young man, he had to look for opportunities wherever he could get them. When he relocated to Chicago in the year 1927, it took him so long to get a job. However, securing a job as a postal clerk would not ultimately solve his plights. He was to deal with the racial discriminative practices of the dominant whites in his newly acquired work place. Even after enduring for long, he was finally laid off in 1931 during the great depression in USA. This was so turbulent since it would financially destabilize him. Later, he would find it so difficult to survive in the conservative society which believed in the supremacy of the whites at the expense of the minority migrant groups.

Thirdly, Wright writes about his family. He says that he lived with his grandmother especially after his father disserted them at home. This is true because it gives a clear picture of his childhood. As he states in his story, he had an unpleasant childhood because he was forced to live with his sick mother along side Ms. Wilson, his highly religious grandmother. This was the beginning of his problems since he had to persevere to cope up with his granny’s tough rules concerning most of the matters of interest to him. For instance, he was not allowed to work on Saturdays and choose the kind of religion to follow. Ms. Wilson, being a Seventh Day Adventist, did not allow him to perform any task on a Saturday. To her, this was a Sabbath day which needed to be observed and kept holy. At the same time, there was a very great disagreement between him and his aunties and uncles. Each of these had a conflicting ideology about what kind of religious faith to pursue. However, this was a great challenge which almost left Wright with a permanent religious hostility. In fact, he also threatened to flee the home for another safer environment (Baldwin, J., 2008).

Besides, Write writes about his experiences as a communist. After going to Chicago, he decides to join the Communist Party. The main reason for doing this is because he thought that it would give him an opportunity to interact and make friendship with other party members especially the blacks. However, as events unfolded, he later gets disappointed when he realized that it was not possible to attain this since even these people were also afraid of change as well. This is a true reflection of Wright’s life because of his decision to join the Communist Party just after joining John Reeds Club. His motivation was that most of the club’s members were members of this party. However, things later turned upside down when he realized that joining the party would not make life better as he thought. Instead, he had to face a new group of people who were conservative and afraid of any form of change. As he explains, the communists would not tolerate any conflicting idea (Wright, R., 1998). Therefore, he would not get a chance to freely exercise his freedom of speech. After being branded as counter-revolutionary, he decides to leave the party. His was not taken lightly because it made him be accused of trying to convince the party members to abandon it.

Consequently, Wright gives an encounter of how he became branded as an enemy of the party e had joined in order to continue with the revolutionary struggle he had launched. His decision to withdraw his party membership after witnessing the trial of a ‘counter-revolutionist’ black member, he becomes an ‘enemy’ of the party. As a result, he is threatened of being laid off from his jobs and being removed from the various associations in which he was a member. The member’s of the Communist Party considered him as a subversive fellow who was not loyal to the party’s policies. Nevertheless, he opts not to fight them back because he knows that they are just a clumsy groping intolerant to the diverse ideologies on equality, tolerance and unity. When he writes about this, he reflects on his real life experiences in Chicago, New York City and Paris where he had gone to seek solace, but would not find one. For example, while in New York, he was accused of publishing the Native Son as a mockery to the white community. His portrayal of black man’s agonies was interpreted to be tainting whites as the worst oppressors in the world.

Finally, Wright ends his book by writing about the revolutionary struggle he had initiated. His belief that everyone has a hunger which must be satisfied compels him to venture into writing. In his opinion, he believed that the only way through which he would attain this is by making a lot of publications addressing the plights of the oppressed whites. Just like the other sections, this idea was influenced by his real life since he later decided to use writing as the only way of appealing to his audience. Hence, he wrote the New York Panorama (1938), Uncle Tom’s Children (1938), novel Native Son (1940), Black Boy (1945), The Outsider (1953) and the Black Power (1954). All these were meant to inform the world o the injustices suffered by the oppressed blacks. This is why he criss-crossed the whole world in order to meet distinguished freedom fighters in Africa and Europe. For instance, in 1953, he traveled to the Gold Coast where he met Kwame Nkrumah and discussed about the revolutionary ideologies of people like George Padmore and Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois (Wright, R., 1993).

Conclusively, I would like to agree that American Hunger is a true reflection of Richard Wright’s life. It qualifies as an autobiography which gives unexaggerated information about this legendary African American revolutionist.

Works Cited

Baldwin, J. (2008). Richard (Nathaniel) Wright. Contemporary Literary Criticism (Detroit:

Gale) 48: 415–430.

Wright, R. (1993). Black Boy. New York: Harper Collins.

Wright, R. (1998) Native Son. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Name

Lecturer

Course

Date

American Hunger

First and foremost, it is evident that Wright was writing about the plight of the African Americans in the United States of America (USA). This is related to his real life because he is among the people who were subjected to this kind of treatment during his lifetime. After excelling in his studies, he was made a school valedictorian. However, this would not bring happiness to him because it put him into problems with the school’s white administrators (Baldwin, J., 2008). For instance, in 1923, he refused to submit the principal’s valedictory address. Even though he was doing this to coax the black administrators to support him, he was in a disagreement with all the school’s white officials. Later in September, after registering for the History, English and Mathematics courses at Lanier High School, we could not concentrate on his studies. He had to attend classes at regular intervals since he was supposed to look for menial jobs in support of his poor family. This is typical of an African American who faced a lot of challenges in their education. The ideologies put in this text reflex the racial prejudices Wright experienced during his childhood in Memphis.

Secondly, Wright reports about the challenges he faced when he was looking for a job. As he explains, he faced lot problems to be granted a job in the white dominated economy. Instead of focusing on his potentials and qualifications, they view him as a black American. This was so racial particularly when they were violently treating him. However, this brutality is related to his life in many ways. As a young man, he had to look for opportunities wherever he could get them. When he relocated to Chicago in the year 1927, it took him so long to get a job. However, securing a job as a postal clerk would not ultimately solve his plights. He was to deal with the racial discriminative practices of the dominant whites in his newly acquired work place. Even after enduring for long, he was finally laid off in 1931 during the great depression in USA. This was so turbulent since it would financially destabilize him. Later, he would find it so difficult to survive in the conservative society which believed in the supremacy of the whites at the expense of the minority migrant groups.

Thirdly, Wright writes about his family. He says that he lived with his grandmother especially after his father disserted them at home. This is true because it gives a clear picture of his childhood. As he states in his story, he had an unpleasant childhood because he was forced to live with his sick mother along side Ms. Wilson, his highly religious grandmother. This was the beginning of his problems since he had to persevere to cope up with his granny’s tough rules concerning most of the matters of interest to him. For instance, he was not allowed to work on Saturdays and choose the kind of religion to follow. Ms. Wilson, being a Seventh Day Adventist, did not allow him to perform any task on a Saturday. To her, this was a Sabbath day which needed to be observed and kept holy. At the same time, there was a very great disagreement between him and his aunties and uncles. Each of these had a conflicting ideology about what kind of religious faith to pursue. However, this was a great challenge which almost left Wright with a permanent religious hostility. In fact, he also threatened to flee the home for another safer environment (Baldwin, J., 2008).

Besides, Write writes about his experiences as a communist. After going to Chicago, he decides to join the Communist Party. The main reason for doing this is because he thought that it would give him an opportunity to interact and make friendship with other party members especially the blacks. However, as events unfolded, he later gets disappointed when he realized that it was not possible to attain this since even these people were also afraid of change as well. This is a true reflection of Wright’s life because of his decision to join the Communist Party just after joining John Reeds Club. His motivation was that most of the club’s members were members of this party. However, things later turned upside down when he realized that joining the party would not make life better as he thought. Instead, he had to face a new group of people who were conservative and afraid of any form of change. As he explains, the communists would not tolerate any conflicting idea (Wright, R., 1998). Therefore, he would not get a chance to freely exercise his freedom of speech. After being branded as counter-revolutionary, he decides to leave the party. His was not taken lightly because it made him be accused of trying to convince the party members to abandon it.

Consequently, Wright gives an encounter of how he became branded as an enemy of the party e had joined in order to continue with the revolutionary struggle he had launched. His decision to withdraw his party membership after witnessing the trial of a ‘counter-revolutionist’ black member, he becomes an ‘enemy’ of the party. As a result, he is threatened of being laid off from his jobs and being removed from the various associations in which he was a member. The member’s of the Communist Party considered him as a subversive fellow who was not loyal to the party’s policies. Nevertheless, he opts not to fight them back because he knows that they are just a clumsy groping intolerant to the diverse ideologies on equality, tolerance and unity. When he writes about this, he reflects on his real life experiences in Chicago, New York City and Paris where he had gone to seek solace, but would not find one. For example, while in New York, he was accused of publishing the Native Son as a mockery to the white community. His portrayal of black man’s agonies was interpreted to be tainting whites as the worst oppressors in the world.

Finally, Wright ends his book by writing about the revolutionary struggle he had initiated. His belief that everyone has a hunger which must be satisfied compels him to venture into writing. In his opinion, he believed that the only way through which he would attain this is by making a lot of publications addressing the plights of the oppressed whites. Just like the other sections, this idea was influenced by his real life since he later decided to use writing as the only way of appealing to his audience. Hence, he wrote the New York Panorama (1938), Uncle Tom’s Children (1938), novel Native Son (1940), Black Boy (1945), The Outsider (1953) and the Black Power (1954). All these were meant to inform the world o the injustices suffered by the oppressed blacks. This is why he criss-crossed the whole world in order to meet distinguished freedom fighters in Africa and Europe. For instance, in 1953, he traveled to the Gold Coast where he met Kwame Nkrumah and discussed about the revolutionary ideologies of people like George Padmore and Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois (Wright, R., 1993).

Conclusively, I would like to agree that American Hunger is a true reflection of Richard Wright’s life. It qualifies as an autobiography which gives unexaggerated information about this legendary African American revolutionist.

Works Cited

Baldwin, J. (2008). Richard (Nathaniel) Wright. Contemporary Literary Criticism (Detroit:

Gale) 48: 415–430.

Wright, R. (1993). Black Boy. New York: Harper Collins.

Wright, R. (1998) Native Son. New York: Harper & Brothers.